The tragedy of political thoughtlessness

I am more and more mindful that life on the margins of society can be liberating. While living on the margins is tough, to say the least, it can be an experience that awakens one to the political thoughtlessness enabled by systems created by those daily affirmed by those norms. I suspect that for some humanity is norms, traditions, rules, regulations and contracts, and their integrity as they codify the superstructure of capitalism. Unfortunately these characterize an idolatry that has made political thoughtlessness the northstar for right wing politics and its religion. The controversy over wokeness, diversity, equity and inclusion in this peculiar desire for political thoughtlessness.

This thoughtlessness exemplified by the Trump administration's political attacks on education, history, Critical Race Theory, attacks on the Transgender community, healthcare, birthright citizenship, and the denial of global warming, has the potential of making the U.S. less safe, less healthy, more traumatized and even more inhumane. Why so much political thoughtlessness? Thoughtlessness is nothing new in America. It's a strain of American civic and political life from its founding. It's in the water we drink, the air we breath. This present moment is one more iteration of the horrific narrative that inflicts American life.

The consequence of political thoughtlessness is a loss of global dominance amidst the rise of China and Russia, loss of economic primacy, and loss of hegemony. Life will continue its downward trajectory. So while the catastrophe of a demographic shift, at least for those who wrote project 2025, may or may not be averted or at least delayed or even aborted in the minds of the Heritage Society and their conservative majority on the Supreme Court the consequence will be devastating for millions of people. It is unfortunate that the passions of the conservative movement blind them to the very real and devastating implications of their policies. Whatever their analysis it doesn't come close to what will happen in people's lives.

I get it, after hundreds of years of demographic dominance and impunity, i.e. white privilege, the prospect of no longer having dominance is frightening. This fear is one reason for the existence of MAGA, a Supreme Court no longer supreme and a politics of viciousness and cruelty. Lies are of great necessity. In this “break the class moment” for the white supremacist the constitution has no bearing, decency is weakness, political thoughtlessness a creed and extremism the vehicle. Barry Goldwater's quote, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also, that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue” represents the consciousness that undergirds right wing politics.

Those who would counter this political thoughtlessness must do so (1) out of a covenant with their ancestors (2) out of a deep sense of justice (3) embracing a sacrificial thoughtfulness (4) through strategic protests, (5) non violence and the law (6) strategic use of AI and various media and (7) teach-ins. Teach-ins are a necessary strategy to raise the consciousness of the masses of people ready to storm the empire of thoughtlessness exemplified by the Trump administration affirmed by the conservativemajority on the court. Teach-ins address a significant miseducation, disinformation and just plain BS being paraded as education. The movement must be the offensive. The movement must be a broad based diverse community of those impacted by right wing thoughtlessness to awake, arise, and arrest the narrative.

As I write this post I reflect on the generational trauma my family and many other families experience because of the putrid evil hands of Jim Crow. I reflect on the lynchings, the burning down of churches, the discrimination and segregation, the outright hatred embodied in whiteness. The great knowledge that history provides is the knowledge of the capacity of whiteness to be thoughtless and to practice evil as a means to protect its ignorance. In this we must press on in the long and beautiful struggle for Martin Luther King's Beloved Community.

Rev. Dr. Monica Cross