the necessity of local politics


THE NECESSITY OF LOCAL POLITICS

HEXIS:    "a state of character or of mind that disposes us to deliberately choose to act or to think in a certain way" (The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy)



"You and I have a divine responsibility to transform America."

James Meredith, A Mission From God (New York: Atria Books, 2012)



On Saturday, October 6, 2018,  blinded and paralyzed by the magic of the Tribe of Trump and thirst for power,  Republicans confirmed that the USA is destined to be a vicious circus for many years to come.  Divisiveness, poisonous hatreds, implacable violence, disregard for the possible sanctity of human life, and moral vices shall flourish.   By virtue of conservative deconstruction of the U.S. Constitution, we shall have the freedom to descend into neo-fascism.  We shall see our faces in a mirror one morning  and not be shocked that a civilized barbarian smiles back at us.



Traveling on diverging paths, Republicans and Democrats and Independents have a shared responsibility for maintaining the swamp of American politics.  It is difficult, if not impossible, to convince me and my fellow citizens that elected officials have any integrity that is beyond debate.  They are simply human beings who have chosen, for reasons too diverse to count, to fall from secular grace. They fail to sing authentic blues.



 Divinity may touch our spirits and our souls, but it refuses to inform our ability to reason or to think critically.  Neither goodness nor divinity motivates political action.  Passion, greed, and cosmic evil  are the sole drivers in American politics. Critical political thought is bereft of the bad faith that divinity creates as pure yearning.  On the contrary, we make our peace with contradictions and paradox, the telos of being an American.  American citizens who delude themselves that this is not the case are wretched and damned.  We are not holy.  We are partisan.  Under the dispensation of partisan logic, we are entitled to abandon, once and for all, the so-called American Dream and to free our minds from closure.



I have license to commit heresy and treason and other acts of uncertainty with impunity.  I have the right to effect the necessity of local politics.

Jerry W. Ward, Jr., "An Epistle to the Wretched and the Damned" (October 7, 2018)



I deem it at once reasonable and necessary to concentrate attention on local politics, the politics of New Orleans -----rampant gentrification that widens the gap between poverty and wealth,  the hidden motives of candidates for elected offices who sell beautifully packaged lies, the problems of infrastructure that the City lacks sufficient revenue to deal with effectively, the trauma-nurturing possibilities of disparity of every kind, the excess of commercialized celebration ----the carnivalesque to the max ---which undermines efforts to create social and environmental justice, which promotes self-hatred,  consensual and non-consensual  racism, elitism, and sexism, nihilism, mental and physical illness, and systemic devilment in our criminal justice systems. We are not entitled to ignore national and international affairs and disasters, but we are obligated and capable of putting  the house of the rising sun  (our neighborhoods) in the Crescent City in order before we cast the first stone.



Jerry W. Ward, Jr.                            October 7, 2018




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