Who Will We Select?

What’s wrong with this picture? I am bombarded every day with politically charged ads that pretend to be soliciting my opinion, only to find at the bottom of each page a request for more money. Money fighting money is like fire trying to stop fire or starting wars to create peace. Unfortunately our two-party system is beyond broken by financially crushing any alternate points of view. Our tricameral system of government is equally broken when the ones who are to be the unbiased protectors of the constitution are no longer selected on the basis of their history of working toward justice but rather owing their allegiance to a given politic of the appointing party.

And beneath it all lies this engine stoked by massive amounts of money – always aimed at “buying” someone’s morals and influencing (more like bribing) officials to vote a certain way that is in the best interest of those providing the money. Neither money nor power make something “right,” and yet you have to be a millionaire to get elected to an office and a billionaire to be elected as president. But how do we scratch and claw our way back from this cliff before we fall to our death?

Tomorrow is election day – albeit a mid-term election – and presents us with an opportunity to do something different. But it will take a massive and unified effort to begin to change this brokenness. Here are some principles to guide and hopefully motivate sane voters to turn out in force to and perhaps move the needle.

1.    Justice is not justice unless it is inclusive of all. That means that unless there is gender equality built in to any policy or platform, it is unjust, biased and harmful. It means unless, women’s lives and black lives are seen as valuable and worthy, and until they are insured those rights, that system or that candidate is on the side of oppression, hatred and exploitation. We need a slate of candidates who advocate for the poor, unseen and marginalized – not the middle class!

2.    Power must be shared and collaborative. Candidates who advocate for their party over another are perpetuating the disease from which we are all suffering. Candidates who fail to speak into power with the other are seeking to win at the price of others’ suffering. Nobody wins unless everybody wins. The myth of win/lose is a zero-sum game in which no one really wins.

3.    Separation of church and state. This is one of the founding principles of this country that seems to have been forgotten. People who presume to be “Christian” and yet perpetuate the status quo, or worse yet promote systems whereby the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, should not even dares to call themselves that, the the entirety of Jesus' message, as well as that of the Jewish tradition from which he came, was caring for the poor and marginalized. Neither should any candidate be permitted to inflict their so-called morality on others in the name of their understanding of religion.

4.    Sustainability for any of us must include sustainability of the planet as well. We are killing our host environment and believing a pack of lies if we listen to anyone who is not speaking about saving the planet (the rain forest, the global climate issue, balancing and sharing the vast reserves of food and supplies). My family of origin hails from coal country in western Pennsylvania. The majority of people there voted for a candidate who promised to bring back the coal, when the mines have been closed for decades and the remaining reserves were then strip-mined until there were few hills left unscathed.

5.    Guns! There are many folks who hunt for food and for whom a weapon is needed or even necessary. However, our gun lobbies have created a Wild West where many believe that their only hope for safety is the possession of not just guns but actual assault rifles. You do not need an assault-type weapon to go hunting. The United States has more that twice as many guns per capita (121 per 100 people) than any other country, including many you or I might avoid as “unsafe” (like Yemen with 53 guns per 100 people).  The disinformation and lobbying about candidates, driven by the gun lobby, must be exposed for the lies they are.

6.    Diversity first. Our population is a beautiful blend of ethnicities, privileges (or lack thereof), genders and gender expressions, and yet our leaders tend to be predominately elderly, wealthy, privileged males. A system of governance that is not reflective of those it represents is inherently flawed from the start. Balancing the scales will take looking for and electing many more from these under-represented groups.

7.    Election/voting rights. In many places and states throughout the country, at-risk voters are being subjected to hurdles that almost preclude their ability to vote. All of us together need to stand together for the rights of all of us to vote. Intimidation tactics (like the presence of armed police or military at the poles) cannot be tolerated. When you go to vote take some extra time to help those less powerful to make it to the voting booth.

I could perhaps add many more principles to this list, but these would be a good start. In the sixties we sang songs like “We Shall Overcome” and “Power to the People.” It is high time we take ownership of those themes for our country, for us all to live into a set of feminist leadership principles and move toward a fair and just nation. Power to the people! Elect women, feminists, queer folk, black and brown skinned sisters and brothers and anyone who works for the good of all of us – not just some of us.

Kris Girrell is a retired executive leadership coach turned writer and speaker who lives in Andover, MA