When I get up in the morning, I read the news as reported by progressive journalists, and it usually makes me angry or depressed. Most real news in the United States nowadays could be summarized with one ever-repeating headline:
Bad People and Policies Reign; Better Alternatives Ignored
This is especially true on economic issues -- the issues that affect the vast majority of people. Yes, progressives have achieved great progress on some cultural issues, most notably same-sex marriage and increasingly marijuana decriminalization. However, the majority of people aren't gay and don't smoke pot. The majority of people do, however, always need to have a job which pays enough to earn a living, and need the government to function honorably, effectively, and with adequate funding. The problem is, on these bread-and-butter issues, progressives keep losing and losing and losing.
Every day, progressive news sources remind us -- and I won't link to any of these reminders because frankly I don't think we need to be reminded yet again -- that the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer, big corporations are screwing us and the planet, the politicians are doing nothing, the politicians are doing stupid and corrupt things, the politicians are being funded by selfish rich people and corporations, the corporations are cutting jobs and cutting wages, unelected government agents are spying on us all, more people are being put in prison unjustly, and most people are retreating into a private world of reality TV and constant overuse of cell phones and social media rather than standing up for their rights and demanding change in their government and society.
No matter what progressives do in politics, the basic realities of our time don't seem to change.
And that brings me to my question: Is it better to be engaged in politics, pissed off all the time, and never really succeed in changing things because the system brooks no change? Or is it better to decide that "the bad shall reign" is a given of human society, stop reading the news and obsessing over the latest example of good progressive ideas being ignored, and feel the liberation of not giving a damn about anything other than one's own life?
I would like to think there is a third option: a way to get involved in a progressive cause that can make life better for the average American, and can actually succeed. I haven't seen anything like that in a long, long time. (And no, I don't consider "Democrats winning elections" as a progressive cause; I'm talking about policy, which doesn't seem to change much even when Democrats do get elected.)
There is a serious psychological danger of being a progressive who takes politics seriously: learned helplessness. Every time we try to change things in society for the better and fail to achieve meaningful results -- or every time we read about other progressives trying and failing, or simply being ignored by the powers that be and the general public as things continue to get worse -- we learn a little bit more that "we are powerless." Repeat this enough, and a deep and soul-crushing cynicism sets in.
This can't be healthy. Nor does it benefit society.
There will probably come a point when things will get so bad for average working people in this country that the system will be ready to snap; a seismic shift of some kind will be upon us. I suspect that will happen when robotics and artificial intelligence really ramp up and fundamentally change the economic system over the next few decades, putting tens, even hundreds of millions of people permanently out of work, and concentrating capital in fewer hands than ever before.
But I wonder: When the tipping point is reached, and the time is ripe for major progressive change, will most progressives be so cynical and unwilling to fight for it that the moment will pass and we will slip into a dystopian future? After years, decades, of always losing, will we have given up trying? Will we have become like the archetypal circus elephant, accustomed to being habitually tied to a pole and unable to move, which doesn't try to move even when it grows strong enough to overcome the restraint?
I closed my eyes and I imagined the newly born defenseless Elephant tied to the pole. I am sure that back then the little Elephant pushed and pulled and sweated trying to get free. But, in spite of all his efforts, he didn’t succeed because the pole was too strong for him. I imagined him sleeping exhausted and next day trying again, and the day after the same...
...Until one day, an awful day in his history, the animal admitted to his weakness and submitted to his destiny. This enormous and powerful elephant we can see in the circus is not running away because the poor animal thinks he can’t. The memory of the weakness he felt shortly after his birth is forever engraved in his mind. And the worst is that he never questioned seriously this memory. He never tried to test his strength...
That's what repeated failure does to sentient beings; it makes them lose their mojo. Progressives have lost their mojo on economic issues -- the fundamental, universal issues of human life and society -- and I would argue it's in large part because we are feeding ourselves a steady diet of being pissed off about how things suck yet we can't change them.
How do we stop this vicious cycle? Do we stop engaging with politics, and just do our best to live according to our principles in private life, or do we somehow find a way to begin engaging with politics in a way that enables us to win?
If we choose the latter, it starts with finding our mojo -- and I have a feeling that's not going to happen if we keep reminding ourselves about how much we have lost and how unlikely is our victory. Perhaps we must start believing again in the power of goodness to transform human hearts and minds. How do we acquire this faith, and where do we begin?