As such, being an enlightened politiholic is an oxymoron. We have talked about this before, but now the time has come to describe myself as an ex-politiholic. A politiholic by history and bent, but no longer a participant and no longer a frequent partisan judge of politicians. The truth is all people are brothers and sisters, deserving of Love, because that is who they truly are. That said, we do need to look a politics and politicians and figure out what we can do about it.

Politics is not about Love

Politicians may start out caring and loving the country, but many change rapidly when they see how things actually work. They are at the bottom of the political food chain and just keeping their job hinges on them “going along to get along.” It often happens that politicians stop at nothing to gain or regain power, “by any means necessary.”

When you control the levers of power, even getting caught is not a crime, it is celebrated. While the rule of law is supposed to be the standard, it does not appear to be the case anymore. The rule of law is supposed to put a guard rail around the people and prevent individuals and groups of individuals from going too far. A politician who loves his country more than power is referred to as a ‘statesman.’ There do not appear to be too many statesmen around these days.

United?

The United States are no longer united. It is more about “the acceptability of your political and social opinions. The variance of what is acceptable is dramatically different state to state. With 50 states, that is remarkable and to be expected. The founders of the USA, when there were only 13 states worried that the union would last only until people discovered and actually started voting themselves money, whether or not the country could afford it. Now that there are 50 states and parts of it are over 5-thousand miles apart, and with the national debt north of 33-trillion, there is little doubt that the congress is voting money for its self and any petty project that comes along, not to mention government bureaucrats who are paid really high wages for their “public service.”

Utopia?

Can the USA ever be truly united again? Can any country become a perfect utopia, treating everyone equally and fairly, in all ways, while dwelling on differences inequalities? The Ego within each person epitomizes the separation we see played out in the country. Examples are easy to find.

The word justice is bandied around a lot, but it is supposed to be treating people in accordance to the laws as agreed. Now, can there be real justice if people change the meanings of the words they don’t like and feel free to ignore laws they do not like?

New theories of justice, such as social justice, distributive justice, environmental justice, organizational justice and you-name-it justice. It appears that people who want their kind of justice NOW are unwilling to go through well over 400 congresspeople and a president or the 50 states to get a law passed or a constitutional amendment passed. While there may be some things that unite the country, there are a huge number of differences that keep it desperately apart. Two or more standards of justice will keep it separated, guaranteed.

Voting

This country is set up as “of the people, by the people and for the people” but it seems to be going fast toward a government of bureaucrats, politicians, by and for themselves.

The voting systems in many important states have changed in many states, using techniques that over the years were avoided because of they could be easily manipulated in many ways. “Majority rules” should be the rule, but those in the minority have found many ways to control how many ballots get counted. We could go on, but when it get to the point that people no longer trust the results because illegal non-citizens are voting, votes are being paid for, votes are being photocopied and run through the machine, or votes are run through the vote counting machine multiple times, votes are mailed out and then “harvested” and filled in by the harvesters, etc. How about dead people voting because some refuse to clean up the voting rolls?

The above paragraph is just one of the many ways that politicians can get into a place that leads them to a dark place spiritually. Sex, bribes and other forms of cheating become easy to do when you think that getting reelected is the most important thing in the world. If it so happens that many people are harmed in the process, the ‘endarkened’ politician harms him or herself as well, as there is no peace, harmony or love.

The problem here is that an enlightened politician who sees all of these ‘shenanigans’ that often bring harm to many segments of society and the public, is left with the temptation to fight. Thus they fall into the same boat. The fight ensures that there is no harmony, no getting along.

One issue voters

Voting for a candidate because of one issue can be dangerous. It isn’t because of the one issue, but what comes with that issue. Candidates will pander to folks who do not pay a lot of attention by telling them the one thing they want, but not the ten they do not. There are many examples of this. A friend of mine will vote for anybody that will protect abortion rights for women, no matter what else they might do. Socialism, fiscal insolvency, bending the rules for themselves (i.e. insider trading, shady campaign donations, etc.) are okay, as long as they vote to support abortion rights.

Sometimes, that one issue is their opponent who is falsely accused and blamed for the things they themselves are doing. It is called projection; they can tell themselves that they may be bad, but their opponent is even worse, someone who will take away all of their cherished government giveaways and maybe that one issue. When challenged, they will not and cannot give logical valid reasons or evidence and just go back to attacking their opposition. Sadly, this works for many uneducated voters, especially if they are only recently put on the government dole that further increases the national debt!

An example of Enlightenment

There have been a number of examples of statesmen and leaders who, faced with the dilemma of almost becoming worse than their opponents, have refused to attack and become physically or verbally violent. Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King took overwhelming odds and eventually were successful, even though they all three were assassinated. Their causes flourished and the enlightened spirit of each is alive today, still encouraging others. There is no cause are so important that it justifies lose your way spiritually.

Only the politician who is guided by the Divine is worthy of my vote. True, they are hard to find. What else can we do? Praying for them, remembering for them that they are also part of our Self, a part of the Divine!