The democratic process (election campaigns) has become one of the ego's greatest excuses to choose denunciation, fear, anger and a hundred other mechanisms of unhappiness. In this year of intense campaigning for presidential nominations we do well to remember every ego mechanism is self-defeating. Every temptation we might have to fear, or feel anger, or hold a grievance, or attack an opposing party or candidate, is simply sabotaging our own happiness and therefore sabotaging our own cause.
It must have been much easier to see from a non-ego viewpoint during the first two American Presidential elections when there was no campaigning. George Washington didn't really want to be President, but was willing to serve and was elected by the electoral college unanimously in both 1789 and 1792. Maybe if we didn't have presidential campaigns and the electoral college was required to find a man or woman who they could all unanimously feel right and good about ... everyone in all states could more easily find a way to choose happiness.
The process of unanimous consensus which was used to choose George Washington is not outmoded. It is used even today, for example, to select the president of the LDS church:
"The appointment of a new president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints happens in an orderly way that — remarkably in today’s world — avoids any trace of internal lobbying for position or rank. It is devoid of electioneering whether behind the scenes or in public.
"Moreover, it is not only the structure of Church organization that governs this process. There is also a deeply ingrained tradition in the Church that personal aspiration for leadership at any level is inappropriate. Instead, the emphasis is on personal worthiness and a humble willingness to serve when invited." - LDS Living Magazine
Some would argue that America was formed as a republic and the more democratic it has become the more the electoral process has fostered dirty politics, dishonesty, and cheating in every way. A democracy and a republic are not only dissimilar but incompatible. There is a fundamental difference between (a) pandering to voters in a democracy which allows the majority to rule over what is right for individuals of a minority (dictatorship by a majority of voters), and (b) a Republic under a written Constitution which safeguards the rights of individuals in the minority.
America has abandoned its Constitution to the point where not only do we now have serious "tyranny of the majority" (which was foreseen by the great French social scientist Alexis de Tocqueville) and blatant "violence of the majority faction" (which was considered the highest danger by "the father of the Constitution" James Madison), but even individuals not part of the majority feel the need to "do what it takes" to defend. The American electoral process has become more than chaos. It has become war. Perhaps it should be called "evil."
No matter what we imagine for our ideal society politically (some would rather be non-political), an important short-term temporary step might be to honor George Washington's example of willingness to serve by re-energizing a personal resolve to work peacefully aiding any efforts to junk the democratic process as it has evolved and pull America once again back to a republic which strictly adheres to its Constitution.
Whatever provisional steps we take, we must keep our focus on our true nature. Even while helping right the wrongs the ego has put into place, our success depends on keeping our focus on the love, peace, and joy of our deepest underlying nature. We must have fun "enjoying the game," so to speak.
Especially crucial to the maintenance of joy while serving to change the political atmosphere is the understanding that we cannot judge our brothers. All individuals on earth are learning from a different perspective, teaching themselves different lessons. Those who support a socialist dictator like Bernie Sanders, or a populist dictator like Donald Trump, or a "holy cruiser" like Ted Cruz, or an addicted loser like Gary Johnson do so because they are teaching themselves what they need to learn. It serves no purpose to judge the supporters of these various candidates except the purpose of our own ego satisfaction, which in turn sabotages our own underlying cause.
So this election cycle even while watching all the political "evil" let's choose constant happiness by maintaining a 100% commitment to honoring not our ego's intellectual insanity but only our deepest spirit of joy ... and by laughing with amused detachment whatever the results.
fas-cism
noun
a socialist governmental system led by a dominant elite which seeks to control industry and commerce, and uses legislation and governmental decree to force Utopian programs on people.
free-dom
noun
one's natural state of being; a governmental system reflecting one's natural state, including voluntary funding and voluntary willingness to join and cooperate with minimal intrinsic rules, but with no programs of "good intention" forced on people "for their own good."
If you are newly waking up to your innate libertarian core and want to investigate deeper the underlying nonsense of the liberal-progressive religion of government worship, give yourself the pleasure of reading Ayn Rand's epic and masterful novel, Atlas Shrugged.
"God's laws will keep your minds at peace, because peace IS His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD TOGETHER. The laws of God work only for your good, and there ARE no other laws beside His. Everything else is merely lawLESS, and therefore chaotic." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles
Interesting factoid: for the last election year studied (1998) some of the highest percentage of votes for Libertarian Party candidates were for candidates who had been studying free of charge the lessons of: Course in Political Miracles
For a great discussion on Christianity vs. State Socialism see: Christianity vs. State Socialism
“I did not understand what made me free, nor what my freedom is, nor where to look to find it. Father, I have searched in vain until I heard Your Voice directing me. Now I would guide myself no more. For I have neither made nor understood the way to find my freedom. But I trust in You. You Who endowed me with my freedom as Your holy Son will not be lost to me. Your Voice directs me." (Prayer from A Course in Miracles)
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