A Surefire Way to Overcome the Powerful
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Our politics is a bit short on saints and Buddhas these days. The halls of power seem to have more crooks, ne’er do wells, bullies, backstabbers.
Given that this motley crowd makes up the loudest faction of today’s politics (though not the only faction), we might assume that to win at policy change, we have to play the game on their terms: berate, taunt, mudsling.
But we can’t beat the powerful at their own game. That’s where they’re strongest. It’s like trying to beat Steph Curry at three-pointers. And as Nietzsche said, when fighting monsters, one should see to it that they do not become a monster.
So if we can’t beat the powerful where they are strongest, we can overcome them by excelling where they are weakest. Which is love.
Love, which is not being a push-over, squishy, softening hard truths. But a relentless love for the promise of what this country could be. And is waiting to become.
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Rather than call our Senator and yell about this, that, and the other, we could call and thank the staffer for their time and public service, then share our issue.
I was once that staffer answering those phones; you’d be amazed how much that simple decency can stop a staffer in her tracks. Enough calls like that about an issue could get the junior staffer on the phones to flag it for a more senior staffer who makes policy recommendations to the Senator.
If our Congresswoman does something we like, thank her. It can incentivize her to do more of that. After all, a politician’s job security depends on being liked.
Look for opportunities to bring decency, care, humaneness to our politics. My Mum used to say, the means don’t justify the ends, the means shape the ends. We won’t get a less monstrous world by being a monster in the work for it.
Then there is this: Not only is love the right thing to do, but whenever we act from it, what we stand for now stands out because love in our politics is all too rare right now.
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