Thank you so much for this great article. Your journey was very much like mine, except for the timing. I fell away from the "left" (in quotes because the D party can hardly be termed "left") in 2016, when I saw how Sanders was cheated out of what would have been a sure victory. I was not surprised at all when he was cheated again in 2020. The final blow for me was seeing how Sanders himself has fallen into the Standard Covid Narrative.
I never got to the point of registering with the R party (I wrote in Sanders in 2020 mainly as a way of thumbing my nose at the D party), but never fell in TDS, either -- I just saw Trump as a narcissistic BS peddler. When I recently pointed out to a staunch liberal friend that Trump hadn't started any new wars, she said, in effect, that she hated him so much that she couldn't even give him credit for that one thing.
There are plenty of things on which I disagree with the right, but the issue of opposition to the Standard Covid Narrative eclipses all other issues right now. Consequently I find myself alignment with R leaders like DeSantis, something that I would have found inconceivable just a few short years ago.
My ever-growing skepticism about the political world has now crept into my thoughts about the climate change narrative. Like you, I see the monomaniacal focus on carbon dioxide as a huge mistake, a vast oversimplification. It leaves out so much else that desperately needs our attention, and it is now being used as a support for a technocratic power grab. This is not going to end well, I fear.
Yes, we are on similar paths here. The fear in me says it will not end well, but I do my best to set that aside to help me find my courage and faith, as I find it enlivens me and others to bringing the healing forward into the world we all need!
Oh my goodness, Raelle. What you've written here essentially mirrors my own journey over the last year and a half as I began questioning the 'vid narrative (WTF I'm a Trump fan now? I'm "far right"? But I love our planet! And what's up with all these anti- movements? They're just making things worse! etc.) - but soooo much more knowledgeably and articulately. Major kudos. I'm sharing your article far and wide!!
Thanks so much! I'm really glad this resonated. It helps to know that many have experienced the same thing. There are probably many more who have kept quiet about it due to the toxic ideological environment. Thank you for sharing my articles!
Your articles are so good! It's such a shame they don't [yet] reach a wider audience. There are millions of us like you. I admire your ability to convey these deranged and distressing issues in such a readable way. Thank you.
Thanks so much David! I guess it's just a case of people sharing them on different forums where they can be found by more people. I really appreciate your support!
Amazing writing. Thank you for such a wise and in depth read. This really mirrors my own journey of political spell breaking in the UK. I love that you voted for yourself too.
Thank you for this deep and engaging article. I voted for Biden, but in retrospect, I wish I did what you did, but instead of writing my name, I wish I wrote "Marianne Williamson".
Thank you for so eloquently resonating my own experience. I had an almost identical journey, sans the TDS- I always thought Trump was more clownish than the Hitler type the left presented, so I didn’t buy into the rhetoric all that much. I also held my nose voting for Biden with the hope that the democrats would, at least, be smarter about covid restrictions. Now, politically marooned, it would be very unlikely for me to vote again. All I see is corruption everywhere. But if I did, I’d be a one issue voter- sovereignty.
Thank you so much for this. It is a perfect framing as a spell, my friends who are under its spell really seem bewitched. And thank you for including climate change. I am also a lifelong leftist . I believe that I am still progressive, and it's the authoritarian left that has abandoned progressivism.
Totally hear you Raelle and always really enjoy your beautiful writing, and at the same time it seems to me like you might have also fallen for the spell of "the network" when you (uncritically, it seems) repeat their deeply manipulative and deceptive charactarization of horrors like CNN, MSNBC, WashPost, and the Democratic party as if it is "The Left". You repeat that spell and lie over and over and over again, just like they do, while in reality there is nothing even remotely leftist about the democratic party (or the rest of the billinaire-owned warmongering propaganda outlets like cnn, washpoat etc), as it is today it is a (culturally liberal) right wing party through and through - pro war, pro capitalist, pro empire, pro the billionaire class, pro weapons manufacturers, pro division and hostility in the name of "national interests", pro-sectarianism, anti-wholistic, anti the poor.. it is a liberal billionaire right wing party (and media) through and through, which not only has nothing to do with the left but is actually doing everything in its power to destroy the left, to destroy and bury anyone and anything that advocates for a wholisitc worldview and the possibility of living not in a constant state of war and nationalist hostility and division, it works to destroy any leftist move towards change in the billionaire's imperialist status-quo. The democratic party is where leftist peace and anti-global-capitalist movements come to die and be neutralized of their potential for change and challenge to its billionaire owners.
As far as I can see there is only one party in usa, the capitalist war party, and this party has two wings, a religious-nationalist-conservative wing and a liberal wing. The two wings are in full agreement and cooperation in 95% of their positions (with regard to the need to maintain the world supremacy of their murderous global empire under all costs) and simply use identity politics to distinguish themselves from each other to create the appearance of a choice between two distinct options. And of course their media revs up the cultural wars to a fever pitch to keep people busy with the issues that the billionaire class couldn't care less about (they couldn't care less if the slave in uniform who drops the bombs for them is gay or straight, men or woman, black or white, cis or trans, as long as he/she does not question their imprialist attacks of plunder and domination it makes zero difference to the billionaire class what's his/her identity politics), keep the people busy with their revved up cultural wars and ignorant of what the american neoliberal capitalist empire actually does all across the globe.
So in my view you are doing a huge disservice to the readers when you adopt (apparently unquestioningly) the manipulative corporate media definitions and call the anti-left monstrosity that is CNN and the democratic party "the left".
As far as I can see, the left is almost completely non-existant today in usa (and in most of the anglo-world as well), has been completely eliminated from view in the past 20-25 years or so through the success of the billionaire class in taking ownership over the entire flow of information on the planet (not just corporate media, but also google and the social networks) and pushing the left completely out of public sight and awareness and replacing it with right wing liberal monstrosities like clinton, obama, biden and the identity politics movement (which in its essence is a right wing movment - who gets most of its funding and "push" from capitalist liberal billionaire "foundations" and of course from the billionaire's media - it is a right wing movement in its essence becasue of its deliberate shifting of the awareness away from the reality of class exploitation and imperialist domination, it is literally a weapon in the hands of the billionaire class who use it frequently to take down anyone who poses a threat tocthe their sectrarian narrow un-wholistoc interests. See for example what they did to Corbyn using identity politics. They managed to turn one of the greatest anti-racist activists of the decade into a racist in the public's view, that's how powerful their media is, all becasue he was a socialist who threatened their selfish interests).
It is just that the entire political spectrum has shifted so far to the right in the last 30 years that even someone as centrist as Sanders is now called "far-left" in conservative america (i read an artice in a danish newspapaer a few years ago where they compared sanders positions to the those of the parties in Denmark, he came out more to the right of the most right wing party in denmark). Amd where right wing horrors like Biden or clinton or obama (who fit in the top right corner of the political typology square) are called "the left".. Honestly it's hard to know if to laugh or cry with such a profound and collosal inversion of reality..
Also, i get to hang out a lot in right wing echo-chambers, especially since the start of this farce plandemic (which i saw right through and objected to from the very beginning) and i absolutely do NOT see any awakening away from the sectarian nationalist division and hostility mentality that you mentioned in the essay (as if many on tne right had an awakening after Bush and no longer support these politics), but quite to the contrary. Literally every conservative i interact with seems to be salivating at the thought of an attack on china (the right wing liberals are taught on cnn/msnbc to hate and blame everything on russia, while the other wing of the empire, the conservative-nationalist-religious wing are taught on fox/hannity to hate and blame everything on china, which seems to have now replaced 'the muslims' as the current hate scapegoat for coservatives upon whom they can blame everything and unleash the brutality of their anger on).
I don't see ANY difference in how gullible both wings are in going along with the nationalist propaganda of the empire (if anything, the conservative-religious wing seems to be a lot more rabid in their hate to "our country's enemies").
I see ZERO reckoning in conservative circles regarding the profoundly destructive horror of the SECTARIAN mentality (nationalist or religious) that lies at the root of their belief system, has brought upon humanity. ZERO reckoning! If anything I see a huge intensifaction of the sectarian nationalist religious narrative (as if that is thw solution to rhe global capitalists who instigated this plandemic. It absolutely idn't the solution, but I might go into that later on).
That is why, even though i stand with some conservatives in my strong opposition to the new biosecurity world being imposed on us by the 'stakeholder capitalists' (as they call themselves) in the world economic forum under the guise of protection from an attack by an external enemy (which is always the trick they play, same as 'the terrorist threat' and 'the commie threat' that preceded the current 'virus threat', which I've seen through and objected to from tne very beginning), even though i stand with some conservatives on that issue, I absolutely do NOT for one second believe their hollow cries about "freedom and liberty". Why not? Becasue i have not seen any one of them give a rat's ass about the "freedom and liberty" of the people that their empire routinely attacks murders and impoverishes (not only do they not raise a cry about this but the majority of right wingers actually cheer for the empire as it does that, invoking their sectarian nationalist "god" and urge him to "bless our troops" as the capitalists send them to murder, attack, invade, traumatise and plunder yet another country whose resources the capitalists covet and whose economy they brutally privatize in order to move everything possible from the public domain into their "private property" to enrich themselves), so I don't buy for one second the right wing's hollow calls for "freedom liberty", in my experience they don't give a shit about anyone else's "freedom and liberty" except their own and their group (and the infidel non-christians non-capitalists can go rot in hell. They don't deserve "freedom and liberty", they deserve the almighty's wrath)..
I have investigated very deeply what is actually at the root of the conservative-nationalist mentality and it is very clear to me that at the root of the lies anti-wholistic SECTARIANISM. Their so-called "freedom and liberty" is sectarian freedom and liberty. They don't like authoritarianism when they are on the receiving end of it, but they sure as hell didn't have any issue with it when it has been used with extreme brutality for decades and decades by their "brave troops" against "the enemies of the nation/religion/capitalism".
I personally find the right wing conservative mentality to be incredibly repulsive, psychologically-immature and trauma-driven. In my experience, at the root of it there is a worship of FORCE, POWER OVER, DOMINATION, AGGRESSIVENSS, AUTHORITY, TRADITION, MILITARY, ROYALTY AND RELIGION.
In my expwrience, it is an extremely un-balanced (in the sense of anti-wholistic, fragmented) worldview that has been lead to worship SECTARIAN self-interest (nationalist, religious, capitalist) and FRAGMENTATION, and that elevates the monstrosity of being a love-less psychologically-stunted greedy ultra-wealthy accumulator into a sacred status.
In my view, the solution to the horror that is the democratic party and the billionaires it works for, is NOT the horror of right wing conservative mentality..
When the guiding mentality in a reality is FRAGMENTATION, atomised SECTARIANISM, nationalist/religious DIVISION, PURE GREED and SELFISHNESS, such a reality will inevitably be one of constant battle, constant conflict, constant competition and a state of perpetual war. It is a reality devoid of compassion, caring, kindness, love, humanity.
It is a reality of perpetual worry about the “competition,” the feeling of an endless need for "growth", for the accumulation of extra wealth to protect against downturns or failed investments, a reality of never ending stress and relentless pressure to produce, a never-ending rat-race of competition, uncertainty, and suspicion. There is no true “flourishing,” no true joy in such a reality (except the very immature temporary pleasure of an immature ego inflated by accumulation of stuff and "winning" over the "competition").
It is a LOVE-LESS HEART-LESS EMPATHY-LESS COMPASSION-LESS TRUST-LESS HORROR REALITY of "winners" and "losers", a de-humanizing reality of using human beings as tools to increase one's profits, a reality suitable for profoundly undeveloped traumatised psyches and impoverished empty tortured hearts who think competition, suspicion, "winning" over others, destroying other people for "our national interests", and becoming rich/accumulating stuff is what life is all about, who never came in contact with the profound depth and sacredness of this mystery called life, psychologically-stunted shallow psyches who never truly experienes the profound depth, sacredness and capacity of the human heart.. who never came in contact with the sacred indescribable stillness at the ground of our being.
The democratic party is a horror, no question about it (and it is anything but "left wing"), but the poison of right wing sectarianism is NOT the solution, in my view.
One profoundly wise writer, visionary and scholar who writes a lot about this (about the WHOLISTIC reality of life and the absolute necessity of having a wholistic framework as i briefly hinted on above, a constitution for the united states of the earth) is Dr. Glen T. Martin. See his profound posts on his blog. Here are a couple good examples though there are hundreds of really profound essays on his blog exploring this issue from all directions. Very VERY highly recommended
PS. And by the way, at least half (if not more) of the large resistance movemnt in France (to the great reset and c@vid new world) is made up of leftists. In france there is still real Left in existence (unlike in usa where the left is non-existant and liberal right wing capitalist identity politics are deceptively labelled "the left" by the billionaire's media, a lie which i was sad to see that you have uncritically repeated here)
PPS. The process you're describing here, Raelle, of awakening from the liberal mainstrsam dogma (dominated by identity politics) and moving towards what appears (at first) to be "the other side", into hanging out in conservative echo-chambers and opening up to this worldview (until there is a sobering up from that new infatuation as well, a few years foen the line), is very familiar to me personally and I've seen dozens of people go through this.
And the huge huge tragedy, in my view, is that once people awaken to how CNN, MSNBC, WashPost, NYTimes have been deceiving them and are part of "the network" as you call it, the tragedy is that in usa the only so-called "alternative" (which is not really an alternative) to the liberal mainstream appears to be conservative-religious-nationalist right wing sectatianism and unfortunately many many people fall for that for a few years (becasue if they were told that the only issue with conservatives is that they're "racist" - which is the only reason that the democratic party gives as to why not vote republican - and it turns out that they're not as racist/homophobe as liberal media drummed onto people's heads (though many indeed are) , then what reason is there to not vote republican, right? - that is the profound damage that the democratic party and its media has done, to put the entire weight of criticism of republicans on identity politics (becasue they have nothing else to criticise them for. In terms of servitude to Wall St and the war industry the two oligarchic parties are identical, all they have to distinguish themselves from each other is russia and identity politics), and when these "racist" accusations turn out to be mostly hollow then many of those who fell for the liberal trance (like you describe that you did, Raelle) feel disillusioned with liberals and democrats and turn to what they think is "the other side", conservatism and Qanon which at first seem to be intoxicating in how they apparently see through the illusion of "the network" (their seeing through is actually only very partial but that isn't apparent at first, in the infatuation phase, when the newly disillusioned liberal arrives into the conservative lap), and i think it will take a few years to sober up from this new infatuation as well and see deeper, into the destructive poison of anti-wholistic sectarianism which is at the heart the conservative-religious-nationalist-capitalist worldview, and even deeper into the psychological-immaturity and trauma that drives this violent (and fearful) mentality of separation, division, suspicion, dog-eat-dog individualism, national/religious egoic chauvinism, and most of all short-sightedness and inability to see the whole, the entite movement of life, but only the narrow selfish interests of the part ("how can I/my group benefit from that").
My own awakening from mainstream democrats was long before that, already around 2010 I saw clearly the deception that Obama is (and the whole media machine that created his "messiah" phenomena, just like they did for conservatives with trump 8 years later) and that he is not a break from Bush but a continuation of the same rule. And so after this awakening i found solace (like you, it seems) in alt-right circles for a few years because they seemed to share my seeing through the illusion of 'the network' (already back then the Left was completely eliminated from view, and so it seemed that the only alternative to the mainstream is with alt-right circles) and it took me about 3 years to sober up from that as well and see the poison (and trauma) at the heart of right wing sectarian mentality (as I mentioned in more detail above) and open to a wider perspective, which is not simply a reaction to the disillusionment with mainstream democrats.
And if I may add one more thing, I feel I wasn't entirely clear on what exactly is the issue with sectarianism that is at the root of right wing conservative-nationalist-religious world view. So I'd like to add something I realized, specifically with regard to the organized religion and nationalism's use of the concept of "God" (to be clear, i am not talking here about the true sacred spiritual unspeakable non-dual BEING dimension of life, but of how right wing sectarian religion and nationalism have distorted and corrupted this concept, and the profound harm this has done to humanity) -
It seems very clear to me right now that the organized-religion concept of "God" (not the real sacred dimension of life, but the petty religious concept of it) was invented as a very natural human reaction to trauma and to the deep early-attachment wound of not being fully loved and accepted without conditions. An invention of an omnipresent entity who is like the parent we wished to have, someone who receives and accepts and loves me completely and unconditionally, who will NEVER ABANDON me, who will always be there for me, who sees the whole of me (nothing hidden) and yet STILL loves me completely and unconditionally despite all my apparent flaws..
This is clearly the kind of deep longing and yearning that trauma and deep attachment wounds create in a human being, isn't it?
The yearning and longing for such a benevolent all-loving wholeness that will never abandon me, a loving entity that will heal and soothe all that is torn and painful (and shameful) inside me.
It seems like something inside us has a deep intuition (an implicit memory, if you will) of a pre-traumatised reality in which there is all-loving wholeness (undivided, complete, loving by nature, loving and accepting without any conditions, and so proundly good and pleasant and beautiful)
This "impulse" and longing seems very natural and understandable for any human who had gone through trauma and attachment wounds (which is pretty much everyone on this planet), no?
So it seems very understadable why the concept of this entity was conjured up..
HOWEVER...
It seems to me that there are two profoundly harmful and destructive and tragic "errors" that organized religion has done :
One, it has personified this unconditionally-loving energy into an entity which is separate from us, which is not us..
Two, it has made this entity into a tribal/sectarian asset, essentially dividing humanity into sects, each one claiming ownership and exclusive connection to this entity (entity which was invented as a coping response to trauma and attachment wounds).
And where there is division (in the name of an invented entity) there is inevitably conflict...
and from there the road is short into the horrors that humans inflict on each other as a result of the division into sects, each one claiming ownership and exclusive connection to this invented entity (the entity that our traumatised and wounded system longs for).
Profoundly tragic, isn't it?
It seems to me that a person born and conditioned (very deeply conditioned) into a specific organized religion, a specific sect, fails to see that the impulse that gave rise to the invention of the all-loving all-accepting entity (the early-attachment deep wounds and traumas), this impulse is the SAME for every human on the planet, it is NOT exclusive to his/her sect.
It seems to me that the tragedy of organized religion is that instead of recognizing the underlying unity, that we ALL share these wounds and traumas (the wounds and traumas which compel us to seek the always-accepting, always-loving, never-abandoning, whole and complete without-pain parent, the parent we never had), instead of recognizing that people all over the planet invented this entity for exactly the same reasons, instead of recognizing this commonality (and so having compassion for ALL), instead of that, organized religion has done the exact opposite, has DIVIDED humanity, has reserved its love only for those who carry the "correct" religious-national label (and the label of 'my group' is the correct and elevated one, of course).
By doing so, organized religion has essentially created a world which is THE EXACT OPPOSITE of what it set out to achieve when it first created the unconditionally loving and accepting entity..
The whole impulse and longing when inventing this entity was for complete safety and security to prevail. And yet what has it created instead (through its inssistance on sectarianism and exclusivity, as if only it owns the access to this entity)? It has created a world of division, separation, exclusion, conflict, unsafety and insecurity!!!! A world of separate atomised groups all armed to the teeth and murdering each other, and all invoking the name of their "god" while doing so..
It seems to me that organized religion (and its natural offshoot, sectarian nationalism) fails to see that its very actions to create security and safety for only one exclusive group are the very thing that brings about INSECURITY for everyone!
TRYING TO CREATE SECTARIAN SECURITY AND PROSPERITY (SECURITY AND PROSPERITY ONLY FOR THE PART, ONLY FOR 'ME AND MY GROUP') IS THE VERY CAUSE OF INSECURITY!!!
That's what seems clear to me right now 😊 and that is (part of) the reason why I feel sectarian religion and sectarian nationalism (which are two of the pillars of right wing mentality) are so profoundly destructive for life on earth, and why i just cannot get behind the conservatives who support this sectarian poison, even though i stand with them in my strong objection to the c@vid deception and 4th industrial revolution..
There's much you say here that I agree with: I agree with the understanding that systems of organized religion have tended to impose ideologies onto spirituality, thus limiting perception and creating sectarian divisions, which turn people against themselves and each other the same the spell of politics does. I also agree that the billionaire class, or more broadly, what I call the Network, controls both parties at the top levels. Many of the other detailed points you make I agree with as well.
I know this was a long article, and despite what is gained with long articles - the ability to provide details and extensive context for complex and interwoven issues - one of the possible pitfalls is that the central points can get lost.
That may have happened here. In the article I state clearly that I'm not conservative, of the Right, or Republican - just as I am no longer progressive, of the Left, or Democrat. Insofar as the limited impact of electoral politics goes, I'm currently leaning Republican because of the state of the Democrats and the biomedical security regime the party supports lockstep (I too, was deeply saddened to see Sanders march to this drum with the rest of them, and so many on the Left not in politics, such as Chomsky, Amy Goodman, Henry Giroux, and more).
I'm not sure if you've read my article The Sacred Left and Right. In it, I identify the Sacred values of the Left, which I used to believe was what the Left was, but also the sacred values of the Right, which I didn't used to believe existed, but have since become able to see. I also identify how these sacred values can be corrupted, distorted, and turned toward authoritarian ends for both the Right and the Left. I'd direct you to that article for more detail. You might say this new article is a follow-up to that one.
I no longer believe that all people labeled as Right or Left can be described as a certain way - certainly not in terms of their goodness and badness. That's an essential element of breaking the political spell. I used to believe that Left was synonymous with the sacred values I held, while Right was synonymous with the authoritarianism I opposed. To the degree I saw politicians aligned with the Network, I considered them "Right-wing," in much the same way you described in your comments.
I have had experiences with Right-leaning folks who are not at all sectarian, war hungry, or bigoted, but who are driven by sacred values of family, honoring our roots and deep traditions, spiritual connection, and personal sovereignty and responsibility. The sacred Left values include caring for the disadvantaged, a desire for justice and equality, social consciousness, and an interest in new ideas and changes to traditions that no longer serve. It seems to me that the stronger a person identifies with political categories such as Right or Left, the stronger likelihood there will be of sectarianism and demonization of the other, and that the sacred values associated with each wing will be weaponized and distorted toward authoritarian ends.
And so that's why I advocate breaking the spell of politics, and being neither Left nor Right, or being both simultaneously in their sacred forms. The pole I see now is no longer between Left and Right, but between sacred and authoritarian.
You were probably not alive then, but a tv series in the late 70s called Soap had a gay character. It was not treated as a big deal. When a friend told me she was gay and felt that way from birth, it made me understand. Trans, I find strange and different, but you do you, as long as you aren't hurting anyone else. Trans who demand to join women's sports are playing at an advantage. Pushing children into Trans lifestyle is damage. Abortion is murder, not bodily autonomy. From a once liberal, who saw how equity didn't mean equal opportunity
Thank you so much for this great article. Your journey was very much like mine, except for the timing. I fell away from the "left" (in quotes because the D party can hardly be termed "left") in 2016, when I saw how Sanders was cheated out of what would have been a sure victory. I was not surprised at all when he was cheated again in 2020. The final blow for me was seeing how Sanders himself has fallen into the Standard Covid Narrative.
I never got to the point of registering with the R party (I wrote in Sanders in 2020 mainly as a way of thumbing my nose at the D party), but never fell in TDS, either -- I just saw Trump as a narcissistic BS peddler. When I recently pointed out to a staunch liberal friend that Trump hadn't started any new wars, she said, in effect, that she hated him so much that she couldn't even give him credit for that one thing.
There are plenty of things on which I disagree with the right, but the issue of opposition to the Standard Covid Narrative eclipses all other issues right now. Consequently I find myself alignment with R leaders like DeSantis, something that I would have found inconceivable just a few short years ago.
My ever-growing skepticism about the political world has now crept into my thoughts about the climate change narrative. Like you, I see the monomaniacal focus on carbon dioxide as a huge mistake, a vast oversimplification. It leaves out so much else that desperately needs our attention, and it is now being used as a support for a technocratic power grab. This is not going to end well, I fear.
Yes, we are on similar paths here. The fear in me says it will not end well, but I do my best to set that aside to help me find my courage and faith, as I find it enlivens me and others to bringing the healing forward into the world we all need!
absolutely the most lucid explanation of the current situation
Oh my goodness, Raelle. What you've written here essentially mirrors my own journey over the last year and a half as I began questioning the 'vid narrative (WTF I'm a Trump fan now? I'm "far right"? But I love our planet! And what's up with all these anti- movements? They're just making things worse! etc.) - but soooo much more knowledgeably and articulately. Major kudos. I'm sharing your article far and wide!!
Thanks so much! I'm really glad this resonated. It helps to know that many have experienced the same thing. There are probably many more who have kept quiet about it due to the toxic ideological environment. Thank you for sharing my articles!
Your articles are so good! It's such a shame they don't [yet] reach a wider audience. There are millions of us like you. I admire your ability to convey these deranged and distressing issues in such a readable way. Thank you.
Thanks so much David! I guess it's just a case of people sharing them on different forums where they can be found by more people. I really appreciate your support!
Amazing writing. Thank you for such a wise and in depth read. This really mirrors my own journey of political spell breaking in the UK. I love that you voted for yourself too.
Thank you for your appreciation Susie!
Thank you for this deep and engaging article. I voted for Biden, but in retrospect, I wish I did what you did, but instead of writing my name, I wish I wrote "Marianne Williamson".
You're so welcome!
Brilliant, as always. Thank you for you wisdom, courage, and love. If I was American I'd write your name in on the ballot too! lol
Thank you for your Vote Kevin! Haha
Thank you for so eloquently resonating my own experience. I had an almost identical journey, sans the TDS- I always thought Trump was more clownish than the Hitler type the left presented, so I didn’t buy into the rhetoric all that much. I also held my nose voting for Biden with the hope that the democrats would, at least, be smarter about covid restrictions. Now, politically marooned, it would be very unlikely for me to vote again. All I see is corruption everywhere. But if I did, I’d be a one issue voter- sovereignty.
You're welcome! Yes, sovereignty, that's the one issue for me too when it comes to electoral politics!
Thank you so much for this. It is a perfect framing as a spell, my friends who are under its spell really seem bewitched. And thank you for including climate change. I am also a lifelong leftist . I believe that I am still progressive, and it's the authoritarian left that has abandoned progressivism.
Thank you Thinker, the many and varied nested spells on our public consciousness are quite a lot to untangle!
Totally hear you Raelle and always really enjoy your beautiful writing, and at the same time it seems to me like you might have also fallen for the spell of "the network" when you (uncritically, it seems) repeat their deeply manipulative and deceptive charactarization of horrors like CNN, MSNBC, WashPost, and the Democratic party as if it is "The Left". You repeat that spell and lie over and over and over again, just like they do, while in reality there is nothing even remotely leftist about the democratic party (or the rest of the billinaire-owned warmongering propaganda outlets like cnn, washpoat etc), as it is today it is a (culturally liberal) right wing party through and through - pro war, pro capitalist, pro empire, pro the billionaire class, pro weapons manufacturers, pro division and hostility in the name of "national interests", pro-sectarianism, anti-wholistic, anti the poor.. it is a liberal billionaire right wing party (and media) through and through, which not only has nothing to do with the left but is actually doing everything in its power to destroy the left, to destroy and bury anyone and anything that advocates for a wholisitc worldview and the possibility of living not in a constant state of war and nationalist hostility and division, it works to destroy any leftist move towards change in the billionaire's imperialist status-quo. The democratic party is where leftist peace and anti-global-capitalist movements come to die and be neutralized of their potential for change and challenge to its billionaire owners.
As far as I can see there is only one party in usa, the capitalist war party, and this party has two wings, a religious-nationalist-conservative wing and a liberal wing. The two wings are in full agreement and cooperation in 95% of their positions (with regard to the need to maintain the world supremacy of their murderous global empire under all costs) and simply use identity politics to distinguish themselves from each other to create the appearance of a choice between two distinct options. And of course their media revs up the cultural wars to a fever pitch to keep people busy with the issues that the billionaire class couldn't care less about (they couldn't care less if the slave in uniform who drops the bombs for them is gay or straight, men or woman, black or white, cis or trans, as long as he/she does not question their imprialist attacks of plunder and domination it makes zero difference to the billionaire class what's his/her identity politics), keep the people busy with their revved up cultural wars and ignorant of what the american neoliberal capitalist empire actually does all across the globe.
So in my view you are doing a huge disservice to the readers when you adopt (apparently unquestioningly) the manipulative corporate media definitions and call the anti-left monstrosity that is CNN and the democratic party "the left".
As far as I can see, the left is almost completely non-existant today in usa (and in most of the anglo-world as well), has been completely eliminated from view in the past 20-25 years or so through the success of the billionaire class in taking ownership over the entire flow of information on the planet (not just corporate media, but also google and the social networks) and pushing the left completely out of public sight and awareness and replacing it with right wing liberal monstrosities like clinton, obama, biden and the identity politics movement (which in its essence is a right wing movment - who gets most of its funding and "push" from capitalist liberal billionaire "foundations" and of course from the billionaire's media - it is a right wing movement in its essence becasue of its deliberate shifting of the awareness away from the reality of class exploitation and imperialist domination, it is literally a weapon in the hands of the billionaire class who use it frequently to take down anyone who poses a threat tocthe their sectrarian narrow un-wholistoc interests. See for example what they did to Corbyn using identity politics. They managed to turn one of the greatest anti-racist activists of the decade into a racist in the public's view, that's how powerful their media is, all becasue he was a socialist who threatened their selfish interests).
It is just that the entire political spectrum has shifted so far to the right in the last 30 years that even someone as centrist as Sanders is now called "far-left" in conservative america (i read an artice in a danish newspapaer a few years ago where they compared sanders positions to the those of the parties in Denmark, he came out more to the right of the most right wing party in denmark). Amd where right wing horrors like Biden or clinton or obama (who fit in the top right corner of the political typology square) are called "the left".. Honestly it's hard to know if to laugh or cry with such a profound and collosal inversion of reality..
Also, i get to hang out a lot in right wing echo-chambers, especially since the start of this farce plandemic (which i saw right through and objected to from the very beginning) and i absolutely do NOT see any awakening away from the sectarian nationalist division and hostility mentality that you mentioned in the essay (as if many on tne right had an awakening after Bush and no longer support these politics), but quite to the contrary. Literally every conservative i interact with seems to be salivating at the thought of an attack on china (the right wing liberals are taught on cnn/msnbc to hate and blame everything on russia, while the other wing of the empire, the conservative-nationalist-religious wing are taught on fox/hannity to hate and blame everything on china, which seems to have now replaced 'the muslims' as the current hate scapegoat for coservatives upon whom they can blame everything and unleash the brutality of their anger on).
I don't see ANY difference in how gullible both wings are in going along with the nationalist propaganda of the empire (if anything, the conservative-religious wing seems to be a lot more rabid in their hate to "our country's enemies").
I see ZERO reckoning in conservative circles regarding the profoundly destructive horror of the SECTARIAN mentality (nationalist or religious) that lies at the root of their belief system, has brought upon humanity. ZERO reckoning! If anything I see a huge intensifaction of the sectarian nationalist religious narrative (as if that is thw solution to rhe global capitalists who instigated this plandemic. It absolutely idn't the solution, but I might go into that later on).
That is why, even though i stand with some conservatives in my strong opposition to the new biosecurity world being imposed on us by the 'stakeholder capitalists' (as they call themselves) in the world economic forum under the guise of protection from an attack by an external enemy (which is always the trick they play, same as 'the terrorist threat' and 'the commie threat' that preceded the current 'virus threat', which I've seen through and objected to from tne very beginning), even though i stand with some conservatives on that issue, I absolutely do NOT for one second believe their hollow cries about "freedom and liberty". Why not? Becasue i have not seen any one of them give a rat's ass about the "freedom and liberty" of the people that their empire routinely attacks murders and impoverishes (not only do they not raise a cry about this but the majority of right wingers actually cheer for the empire as it does that, invoking their sectarian nationalist "god" and urge him to "bless our troops" as the capitalists send them to murder, attack, invade, traumatise and plunder yet another country whose resources the capitalists covet and whose economy they brutally privatize in order to move everything possible from the public domain into their "private property" to enrich themselves), so I don't buy for one second the right wing's hollow calls for "freedom liberty", in my experience they don't give a shit about anyone else's "freedom and liberty" except their own and their group (and the infidel non-christians non-capitalists can go rot in hell. They don't deserve "freedom and liberty", they deserve the almighty's wrath)..
I have investigated very deeply what is actually at the root of the conservative-nationalist mentality and it is very clear to me that at the root of the lies anti-wholistic SECTARIANISM. Their so-called "freedom and liberty" is sectarian freedom and liberty. They don't like authoritarianism when they are on the receiving end of it, but they sure as hell didn't have any issue with it when it has been used with extreme brutality for decades and decades by their "brave troops" against "the enemies of the nation/religion/capitalism".
I personally find the right wing conservative mentality to be incredibly repulsive, psychologically-immature and trauma-driven. In my experience, at the root of it there is a worship of FORCE, POWER OVER, DOMINATION, AGGRESSIVENSS, AUTHORITY, TRADITION, MILITARY, ROYALTY AND RELIGION.
In my expwrience, it is an extremely un-balanced (in the sense of anti-wholistic, fragmented) worldview that has been lead to worship SECTARIAN self-interest (nationalist, religious, capitalist) and FRAGMENTATION, and that elevates the monstrosity of being a love-less psychologically-stunted greedy ultra-wealthy accumulator into a sacred status.
Woops, space finished. Continued below
(Continued from above)
In my view, the solution to the horror that is the democratic party and the billionaires it works for, is NOT the horror of right wing conservative mentality..
When the guiding mentality in a reality is FRAGMENTATION, atomised SECTARIANISM, nationalist/religious DIVISION, PURE GREED and SELFISHNESS, such a reality will inevitably be one of constant battle, constant conflict, constant competition and a state of perpetual war. It is a reality devoid of compassion, caring, kindness, love, humanity.
It is a reality of perpetual worry about the “competition,” the feeling of an endless need for "growth", for the accumulation of extra wealth to protect against downturns or failed investments, a reality of never ending stress and relentless pressure to produce, a never-ending rat-race of competition, uncertainty, and suspicion. There is no true “flourishing,” no true joy in such a reality (except the very immature temporary pleasure of an immature ego inflated by accumulation of stuff and "winning" over the "competition").
It is a LOVE-LESS HEART-LESS EMPATHY-LESS COMPASSION-LESS TRUST-LESS HORROR REALITY of "winners" and "losers", a de-humanizing reality of using human beings as tools to increase one's profits, a reality suitable for profoundly undeveloped traumatised psyches and impoverished empty tortured hearts who think competition, suspicion, "winning" over others, destroying other people for "our national interests", and becoming rich/accumulating stuff is what life is all about, who never came in contact with the profound depth and sacredness of this mystery called life, psychologically-stunted shallow psyches who never truly experienes the profound depth, sacredness and capacity of the human heart.. who never came in contact with the sacred indescribable stillness at the ground of our being.
The democratic party is a horror, no question about it (and it is anything but "left wing"), but the poison of right wing sectarianism is NOT the solution, in my view.
One profoundly wise writer, visionary and scholar who writes a lot about this (about the WHOLISTIC reality of life and the absolute necessity of having a wholistic framework as i briefly hinted on above, a constitution for the united states of the earth) is Dr. Glen T. Martin. See his profound posts on his blog. Here are a couple good examples though there are hundreds of really profound essays on his blog exploring this issue from all directions. Very VERY highly recommended
https://oneworldrenaissance.com/2021/01/23/holism-fragmentation-and-our-endangered-future-a-new-vision-and-a-new-hope/ a profound essay, in my view
https://oneworldrenaissance.com/2021/02/22/human-freedom-and-the-earth-constitution-2/ PLEASE DO READ!!!
PS. And by the way, at least half (if not more) of the large resistance movemnt in France (to the great reset and c@vid new world) is made up of leftists. In france there is still real Left in existence (unlike in usa where the left is non-existant and liberal right wing capitalist identity politics are deceptively labelled "the left" by the billionaire's media, a lie which i was sad to see that you have uncritically repeated here)
PPS. The process you're describing here, Raelle, of awakening from the liberal mainstrsam dogma (dominated by identity politics) and moving towards what appears (at first) to be "the other side", into hanging out in conservative echo-chambers and opening up to this worldview (until there is a sobering up from that new infatuation as well, a few years foen the line), is very familiar to me personally and I've seen dozens of people go through this.
And the huge huge tragedy, in my view, is that once people awaken to how CNN, MSNBC, WashPost, NYTimes have been deceiving them and are part of "the network" as you call it, the tragedy is that in usa the only so-called "alternative" (which is not really an alternative) to the liberal mainstream appears to be conservative-religious-nationalist right wing sectatianism and unfortunately many many people fall for that for a few years (becasue if they were told that the only issue with conservatives is that they're "racist" - which is the only reason that the democratic party gives as to why not vote republican - and it turns out that they're not as racist/homophobe as liberal media drummed onto people's heads (though many indeed are) , then what reason is there to not vote republican, right? - that is the profound damage that the democratic party and its media has done, to put the entire weight of criticism of republicans on identity politics (becasue they have nothing else to criticise them for. In terms of servitude to Wall St and the war industry the two oligarchic parties are identical, all they have to distinguish themselves from each other is russia and identity politics), and when these "racist" accusations turn out to be mostly hollow then many of those who fell for the liberal trance (like you describe that you did, Raelle) feel disillusioned with liberals and democrats and turn to what they think is "the other side", conservatism and Qanon which at first seem to be intoxicating in how they apparently see through the illusion of "the network" (their seeing through is actually only very partial but that isn't apparent at first, in the infatuation phase, when the newly disillusioned liberal arrives into the conservative lap), and i think it will take a few years to sober up from this new infatuation as well and see deeper, into the destructive poison of anti-wholistic sectarianism which is at the heart the conservative-religious-nationalist-capitalist worldview, and even deeper into the psychological-immaturity and trauma that drives this violent (and fearful) mentality of separation, division, suspicion, dog-eat-dog individualism, national/religious egoic chauvinism, and most of all short-sightedness and inability to see the whole, the entite movement of life, but only the narrow selfish interests of the part ("how can I/my group benefit from that").
My own awakening from mainstream democrats was long before that, already around 2010 I saw clearly the deception that Obama is (and the whole media machine that created his "messiah" phenomena, just like they did for conservatives with trump 8 years later) and that he is not a break from Bush but a continuation of the same rule. And so after this awakening i found solace (like you, it seems) in alt-right circles for a few years because they seemed to share my seeing through the illusion of 'the network' (already back then the Left was completely eliminated from view, and so it seemed that the only alternative to the mainstream is with alt-right circles) and it took me about 3 years to sober up from that as well and see the poison (and trauma) at the heart of right wing sectarian mentality (as I mentioned in more detail above) and open to a wider perspective, which is not simply a reaction to the disillusionment with mainstream democrats.
And if I may add one more thing, I feel I wasn't entirely clear on what exactly is the issue with sectarianism that is at the root of right wing conservative-nationalist-religious world view. So I'd like to add something I realized, specifically with regard to the organized religion and nationalism's use of the concept of "God" (to be clear, i am not talking here about the true sacred spiritual unspeakable non-dual BEING dimension of life, but of how right wing sectarian religion and nationalism have distorted and corrupted this concept, and the profound harm this has done to humanity) -
It seems very clear to me right now that the organized-religion concept of "God" (not the real sacred dimension of life, but the petty religious concept of it) was invented as a very natural human reaction to trauma and to the deep early-attachment wound of not being fully loved and accepted without conditions. An invention of an omnipresent entity who is like the parent we wished to have, someone who receives and accepts and loves me completely and unconditionally, who will NEVER ABANDON me, who will always be there for me, who sees the whole of me (nothing hidden) and yet STILL loves me completely and unconditionally despite all my apparent flaws..
This is clearly the kind of deep longing and yearning that trauma and deep attachment wounds create in a human being, isn't it?
The yearning and longing for such a benevolent all-loving wholeness that will never abandon me, a loving entity that will heal and soothe all that is torn and painful (and shameful) inside me.
It seems like something inside us has a deep intuition (an implicit memory, if you will) of a pre-traumatised reality in which there is all-loving wholeness (undivided, complete, loving by nature, loving and accepting without any conditions, and so proundly good and pleasant and beautiful)
This "impulse" and longing seems very natural and understandable for any human who had gone through trauma and attachment wounds (which is pretty much everyone on this planet), no?
So it seems very understadable why the concept of this entity was conjured up..
HOWEVER...
It seems to me that there are two profoundly harmful and destructive and tragic "errors" that organized religion has done :
One, it has personified this unconditionally-loving energy into an entity which is separate from us, which is not us..
Two, it has made this entity into a tribal/sectarian asset, essentially dividing humanity into sects, each one claiming ownership and exclusive connection to this entity (entity which was invented as a coping response to trauma and attachment wounds).
And where there is division (in the name of an invented entity) there is inevitably conflict...
and from there the road is short into the horrors that humans inflict on each other as a result of the division into sects, each one claiming ownership and exclusive connection to this invented entity (the entity that our traumatised and wounded system longs for).
Profoundly tragic, isn't it?
It seems to me that a person born and conditioned (very deeply conditioned) into a specific organized religion, a specific sect, fails to see that the impulse that gave rise to the invention of the all-loving all-accepting entity (the early-attachment deep wounds and traumas), this impulse is the SAME for every human on the planet, it is NOT exclusive to his/her sect.
It seems to me that the tragedy of organized religion is that instead of recognizing the underlying unity, that we ALL share these wounds and traumas (the wounds and traumas which compel us to seek the always-accepting, always-loving, never-abandoning, whole and complete without-pain parent, the parent we never had), instead of recognizing that people all over the planet invented this entity for exactly the same reasons, instead of recognizing this commonality (and so having compassion for ALL), instead of that, organized religion has done the exact opposite, has DIVIDED humanity, has reserved its love only for those who carry the "correct" religious-national label (and the label of 'my group' is the correct and elevated one, of course).
By doing so, organized religion has essentially created a world which is THE EXACT OPPOSITE of what it set out to achieve when it first created the unconditionally loving and accepting entity..
The whole impulse and longing when inventing this entity was for complete safety and security to prevail. And yet what has it created instead (through its inssistance on sectarianism and exclusivity, as if only it owns the access to this entity)? It has created a world of division, separation, exclusion, conflict, unsafety and insecurity!!!! A world of separate atomised groups all armed to the teeth and murdering each other, and all invoking the name of their "god" while doing so..
It seems to me that organized religion (and its natural offshoot, sectarian nationalism) fails to see that its very actions to create security and safety for only one exclusive group are the very thing that brings about INSECURITY for everyone!
TRYING TO CREATE SECTARIAN SECURITY AND PROSPERITY (SECURITY AND PROSPERITY ONLY FOR THE PART, ONLY FOR 'ME AND MY GROUP') IS THE VERY CAUSE OF INSECURITY!!!
That's what seems clear to me right now 😊 and that is (part of) the reason why I feel sectarian religion and sectarian nationalism (which are two of the pillars of right wing mentality) are so profoundly destructive for life on earth, and why i just cannot get behind the conservatives who support this sectarian poison, even though i stand with them in my strong objection to the c@vid deception and 4th industrial revolution..
Hi Dan,
There's much you say here that I agree with: I agree with the understanding that systems of organized religion have tended to impose ideologies onto spirituality, thus limiting perception and creating sectarian divisions, which turn people against themselves and each other the same the spell of politics does. I also agree that the billionaire class, or more broadly, what I call the Network, controls both parties at the top levels. Many of the other detailed points you make I agree with as well.
I know this was a long article, and despite what is gained with long articles - the ability to provide details and extensive context for complex and interwoven issues - one of the possible pitfalls is that the central points can get lost.
That may have happened here. In the article I state clearly that I'm not conservative, of the Right, or Republican - just as I am no longer progressive, of the Left, or Democrat. Insofar as the limited impact of electoral politics goes, I'm currently leaning Republican because of the state of the Democrats and the biomedical security regime the party supports lockstep (I too, was deeply saddened to see Sanders march to this drum with the rest of them, and so many on the Left not in politics, such as Chomsky, Amy Goodman, Henry Giroux, and more).
I'm not sure if you've read my article The Sacred Left and Right. In it, I identify the Sacred values of the Left, which I used to believe was what the Left was, but also the sacred values of the Right, which I didn't used to believe existed, but have since become able to see. I also identify how these sacred values can be corrupted, distorted, and turned toward authoritarian ends for both the Right and the Left. I'd direct you to that article for more detail. You might say this new article is a follow-up to that one.
I no longer believe that all people labeled as Right or Left can be described as a certain way - certainly not in terms of their goodness and badness. That's an essential element of breaking the political spell. I used to believe that Left was synonymous with the sacred values I held, while Right was synonymous with the authoritarianism I opposed. To the degree I saw politicians aligned with the Network, I considered them "Right-wing," in much the same way you described in your comments.
I have had experiences with Right-leaning folks who are not at all sectarian, war hungry, or bigoted, but who are driven by sacred values of family, honoring our roots and deep traditions, spiritual connection, and personal sovereignty and responsibility. The sacred Left values include caring for the disadvantaged, a desire for justice and equality, social consciousness, and an interest in new ideas and changes to traditions that no longer serve. It seems to me that the stronger a person identifies with political categories such as Right or Left, the stronger likelihood there will be of sectarianism and demonization of the other, and that the sacred values associated with each wing will be weaponized and distorted toward authoritarian ends.
And so that's why I advocate breaking the spell of politics, and being neither Left nor Right, or being both simultaneously in their sacred forms. The pole I see now is no longer between Left and Right, but between sacred and authoritarian.
You were probably not alive then, but a tv series in the late 70s called Soap had a gay character. It was not treated as a big deal. When a friend told me she was gay and felt that way from birth, it made me understand. Trans, I find strange and different, but you do you, as long as you aren't hurting anyone else. Trans who demand to join women's sports are playing at an advantage. Pushing children into Trans lifestyle is damage. Abortion is murder, not bodily autonomy. From a once liberal, who saw how equity didn't mean equal opportunity
I remember Soap! Great show!