Day Seven: Bad News and Taking Action

I just saw an on-line petition* to ask the White House to demand that Trump disclose his personal finances and put his assets in a true blind trust BEFORE the electoral collage votes on December 19. Trump has bragged of his extensive international business operations that will certainly be impacted by his decisions as President. He has also said that he will be leaving his business interests in the hands of his children. Now these same children are part of the transition team that will be appointing the very people who will ostensibly be regulating their business activity over the next four years.

Reading the petition, I feel the rising of the now familiar fear and panic of the past week.

I have signed the petition and will also post it on my Facebook page. This evening (11/15/16) I will attend a community rally at City Hall in Worcester. I am glad to do something, but these actions feel so feeble in response to the daily bad news of Trump’s appointments. I am happy the RNC guy will be chief of staff, but deeply disturbed that a racist who has spent his career stoking the fires of otherness and hate will be a senior advisor in the White House.

I oscillate between catastrophic thinking and a more measured, even hopeful, response. Sometimes I have faith in the better traditions of our country and the founder’s intentional constraint of the chief executive’s powers. But then I see evidence of the forces of greed and disregard of common decency that Trump proudly embodies and I fear the worst. Are we just going through a time of difficulty or are we in danger of moving toward a totalitarian society?

Whatever is happening, it probably doesn’t do too much good to get lost in the place of fearful imagining. On the other hand, when we are fearful and discouraged, it doesn’t help to pretend we are some place else. So how do we find a middle way that acknowledges and respects whatever is arising in the moment, but doesn’t get carried away in the intensity of it all?

The truth is, we can’t really know what is emerging here because it has never happened before. We (always) live in unprecedented times. We can, however, be certain that our actions and our inactions will be a part of the reality we are moving into.

*Thanks to John Wark for forwarding me the petition – originated by aimee.wagstaff@andruswagstaff.com and available on-line at https://wh.gov/ie80r