Magical Dictats

A dictat is a sheer assertion of the will to power.

It is an order given by one person or group to another without any consideration, and expected to be obeyed without question.

Examples include:

“We will build a wall and Mexico will pay for it!”

“We will have free college tuition and Wall Street will pay for it!”

“We will require all school districts to allow transgender individuals to use whatever bathroom they want–or we will take away your federal dollars!”

Their Unreality

The problem is Mexico won’t pay for it.

The problem is Wall Street won’t pay for it.

The problem is numerous people will object and tell the Feds to go you know where in response.

That’s reality.

It’s a reality that fiats and dictats ignore when they attempt to steamroll opponents and/or pander to their constituents by pronouncements from on high.

It’s therefore a kind of magical thinking.

Their Devaluing of Others

It says to the opposition being overridden and commanded:

I will just ignore you.

I will force you to comply.

I will go ahead anyway–try and stop me.

I will keep on doing it until someone makes me stop.

So we’ll make campaign promises, issue executive orders, and release policy directives predicated on cowing those in opposition and extracting everything from them while giving nothing to them.

Which means opponents have nothing to lose by resorting to extreme measures, and nothing to gain from coming to a peaceable agreement.

And we wonder why things are so terribly polarized.

We wonder why so much of the electorate views the other side as a mortal threat to their existence.

We wonder why every side gives themselves permission to say and do anything to stop the hellbent “other side”.

The New Normal

Notice we have three elements:  a willful kind of control, a magical approach to dealing with conflict, and a profound devaluing of opponents.

This, my friends, is our new normal.

It is found on the Right and the Left.

It is reflected in the elections and in the candidates.

It is highly popular with the electorate.

It is bound to fail, and will continue to amplify frustration and conflict in our society.

Political Religion

I recently had a conversation with someone who identified themselves as a Bernie Sanders supporter.

I asked, “Where are we going to get all the money to pay for everything that Bernie promises?”

I was told we’d simply abolish the military-industrial complex and use all that money.

At that point, I was thinking of the 1930’s and Hitler’s rise in the face of unilateral disarmament by the free democracies.

I was thinking of “Who will fill the vacuum we leave behind when we withdraw our military from the world–China, Russia, ISIS, Al Qaeda?”

I was also thinking of our 19 trillion dollar national debt, as well as our need to fund our underfunded Social Security and Medicare programs (i.e. – to pay for what we already have).

I realized that in that moment that my young friend’s answer reflected a magical approach, and that rationality would not help change it.

It was an article of cherished faith, and politics was his religion.

Where Will it End?

Of course such political religiosity is also true on the Right and Center, and not just the Left.

Each totalitarian (all encompassing, all-of-life explaining ideology) political religion has its political lawgiver, its binding moral mandate, its political plan of salvation, its political savior, and its view of who is to be politically saved and politically damned.

At the top of this political religion sits the all-defining and autonomous Self.

This yuuge Self is above it all, monitoring the world via cable TV and social media, brooking no opposition, and picking from among many options which political surrogate will carry out its absolute will.

Which means whoever can bribe and/or scare the most autonomous selfs into a majority will win.

Which sets up a society marked by absolute lawlessness and a reaction of unchecked authoritarianism.

Is this all there is?  Is this how we will end up?

Or is there a path back to sanity?