A world view crumbles
This is not, at heart, a disintegration of a set of policy ideas. It is the disintegration of a set of ideas about human beings.
Dearest friends: We are witnessing a world view crumbling before us, even as it fights desperately to retain its grip on power.
It is not the conservative world view I mean. This is not, at heart, a disintegration of a set of policy ideas.
It is the disintegration of a set of ideas about human beings.
It is the view that remains convinced that only a small group of people is worthy of making big decisions, of holding the reins of power, of stewarding the country’s wealth, of setting the direction for the many. And this view uses many fading, increasingly flimsy constructs to support it: hard line notions of race, gender, wealth, individualism. It bases itself on creating fear, in order to exploit our natural tendency to turn to power to protect us from what we fear. A people afraid of something - immigrants, communism, socialism, confiscation of guns, fill in the blank - are a people vulnerable.
The current incarnation of the Republican party appears to be steered by those defending this world view, defending their positions of privilege.
But it is not a strictly partisan view. It appears at all points in the political spectrum. It is the root of attempts to restrict access to voting, of attempts to exclude certain groups from full access to health care, of lawmaking that defines people without certain types of documentation as less human, less worthy of protection under the law.
As this world view crumbles, it engages in a violent and damaging battle to survive. We are called to recognize our own anxiety triggered by this massive change, and to let go of the old ideas of elitism and division that we might be tempted to cling to.
A different world view is coming forward, one that does not rely on old categories to sort people. One that commits to the worth and inclusion of all people in determining the health of our communities and our planet. A world view that recognizes the deep connections among all people, creatures, and the natural world. This is not new at all - it has been alive as long as humans have constructed an understanding of our world. The combined forces of global pandemic, demographic changes, and climate crises push this connected and inclusive view forward as our best - probably our only - path to survival.
I believe that every crisis we face - from unaccompanied children at our southern border to vaccine inequities, through to climate catastrophe, endemic poverty, racism, violence - begins to resolve the moment we commit to the radical valuing of every person, creature, community, and natural element of our planet.
Likewise, without that commitment, the crises will multiply.
As always, I am deeply grateful for your company on this exploration.
For historical context on today’s political world views, I highly recommend Dr. Heather Cox Richardson: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/