The Right's Path to Liberation

Mahakala, Gar Drolma Buddhist Center, accessed 2/19/2018

I will admit that I feel angry when I read of what conservatives vote for, excuse, and do in public and private.  I will also recognize that they likely feel even more disgusted by what they think progressives do in public, although I am not sure they're entirely based in demonstrable facts (while we can base our conclusions on conservatives' behavior and actions).  I know that their ideology, and the logic behind the ideology, is toxic.  We see how they interact with other people, especially with people they do not recognize as people, because they are too caught up in the power and wealth game to recognize even their own humanity, let alone someone elses'.  Right-wing people seem to care little about ethics, know nothing about truth, and have very crude and angry versions of morality that hinder human well-being and development.

It should be noted that I'm talking of something deeper in the human mind than the political parties.  Indeed, many who identify as Democrats in the context of the United States may actually have the same biases and problems with working with the lived world as Republicans and conservatives do.  I'm referring to the mindset, behavior, and psychology behind the policy and outlook preferences, rather than whatever someone wants to call themselves du jour.  To that end, this is aimed at people who have extreme difficulty adapting well to new situations, who cannot seem for the life of themselves to fathom empathy, compassion, or consideration, and who repeatedly screw things up for most people, and then fail to acknowledge or make appropriate adaptations to those mistakes.  I'm talking to homo conservatatus, and I hope they will listen.  Conservatives, as Jon Stewart would say, "meet me at camera three":

Yo. I think it is safe to say that many in the American public are getting angry at you and your type of people.  I think it's also safe to say that more people are going to become aware of you and your kind too, in the short and long term.  I will start by saying (with meaning) that I do not want or wish harm onto you, or the people I know you care about.  I will politely warn you all again, that other people will not be feeling as kind or considerate to you all when the other shoe hits the floor from your boondoggle into Capitalism and the attempted resurrection of feudalism and aristocracy, as the environment wears out under your watch, and your people continue to take and demand more and more, without any fair or honest exchange from you all in return.  So let me make this blunt.  You have tasks to accomplish, if you want to save yourselves from the pending doom of our world.  I will not acknowledge you as a superior, or an equal, until you each and all demonstrate proficiency and genuine acceptance of the new behavior.  In no particular order, these are the tasks for conservative human beings to accomplish in order to avoid being killed, or otherwise tossed from rest of human society:

• You must acknowledge and understand what it is to be an equal human being among other human beings.
• You must share, and learn how to share, and like it.  You're not diminished through mandated giving, especially if it is justifiable and reasoned for everyone's and others' benefit.
• You must learn what it is to be an actual inferior, and demonstrate genuine empathy consistently towards those who you may think of and look down upon as inferiors forever into the future.
• You must gain a concept of bigger cause and effect relationships, how to sense them accurately in your lived environment, and adapt accordingly to those needed changes.
• You must learn to work with your anger in a calm, effective, and appropriate fashion.
• You must actually be doing all of the above with a genuine smile (if you know how to genuinely smile).
• You must never backslide on any of these tasks.  Otherwise, society would be technically justified in putting you back in line as an individual for its own safety and well-being.

Without accomplishing these tasks in this lifetime, I cannot guarantee your peoples' continued survival and well-being.  I do not feel that we, as a society, can continue to stand well for ourselves and others if we keep this partnership together between conservative people and progressive people on the same terms.  We are, at this moment, a house divided.  One of the (many) roommates is definitely and actually more at fault than the rest.  I'm not sure how much longer we can actually take as a nation before we rip at the seams under the Right-wing's influence and its people.

I am at least able to appreciate the irony that a "tolerant" progressive would demand such a stance for the "intolerant" conservative.  Intolerance to some things seems to be a trait we share across the political spectrum; it's an important way of defining a group, which is important for defining identities and peoples.  What I'd like this piece to reflect though, is that one side is actually rooted in kindness, and a desire to heal and be healed with others.  Again, I am not advocating for conservative kill-offs, or "political cleansing".  I'm just advocating that a specific group of people get their collective and individual business in order, such that we can actually live in relative peace, stability, and prosperity on this planet.  I do not think we will survive long as a whole nation without the terms of progressive-conservative relations being effectively addressed.  I may be biased.  But, I'm not the one living in willful ignorance, honestly ignoring or wishing ill to others while behaving callously and violently towards others.  And this is before we talk of the effects that their policies have on others.

So, in the name of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, I hope that people who read this and are honestly able to identify themselves on the conservative-spectrum will take these words to heart.  Otherwise, I'm not sure how much longer we'll hold out against unleashing the anger that is getting penned up in progressives' minds for the sake of protecting the well-being of others.  Eventually, the dam breaks, and humans go ape.  I would like to avoid that happening for the sake of my worst enemies.  This post, this act of compassion alone, shows the real difference between the progressive light, and the conservative night.  May all beings be happy.

Sources:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/biology-ideology-john-hibbing-negativity-bias/

https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/WCAS-D-15-0046.1

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/04/05/when-republicans-defend-republicans-bad-behavior-we-justify-political-correctness/?utm_term=.7c4d973bef59

https://2012election.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004818

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/03/new-study-questions-trope-conservatives-are-happier-liberals