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BEYOND THE BALLOT BOX

"No matter what anyone tells you, words and ideas can change the world. " ~Robin
Williams

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MISSION STATEMENT:

I fear that the American Dream is lost; and if it is not lost, totally and
irrevocably, if I am filled with nothing more than anxious tears, then I fear it
soon will be, for America was founded in defiance of one specific King; a Land
of Laws was instituted to subdue all Would-Be Kings; and yet it seems, in this
Year of Our Lord 2024, we are on the cusp of anointing a King who will revel in
his Kingship and call his coronation Divine and incite rebellion after rebellion
until the Constitution is a heap of scraps, ready to be blown away by the first
westerly wind.

And sure, you might call this another example of misguided fear-mongering; and
sure, you might say that this kind of talk is especially irresponsible, in the
wake of the attempt on the former President’s life; but I cede no ground, and I
will do my damnedest to never wave a white flag; and I will do this because the
character of the 45th President defiles the Office he once held and wants to
hold again and it defiles the noblest impulses of Christianity and it defiles
the people he claims to love, in that it gives them license to indulge in their
worst fantasies and legitimizes their contempt for anyone who has ever told them
“no” and encourages them to be the worst type of American they can be, bigoted
and small-minded and callous and arrogant and proud and indifferent to the
people they hurt with their self-righteous laughter.

The America the 45th President wants to create is an America of Perpetual
Grievance, where happiness is only possible when others are made miserable and
the American Dream is the Apotheosis of Cruelty and the Shining Beacon on the
Hill bursts into spectacular flames as the rest of the world watches and weeps
and runs from the restless whips of their power-hungry overlords.

But the uncomfortable truth is that people want him to create that America, and
so the question for those of us who believe this country can be Something More
is two-fold: how did we get here, and how do we get out? Not “can we get out” or
“should we get out,” because America has proven again and again that the
Impossible is Possible; and because America defied, pilloried, and condemned a
King by asserting, once and for all time, that “all Men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness;” and, further, that “to
secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
Powers from the Consent of the Governed…”

That is, on the brink of war, America declared that these Rights, these most
fundamental Rights, are guaranteed to Men (included in the capital-M “Men” are
women and children); and that they are guaranteed to Men everywhere, because
these Rights are not guaranteed by governments, nor any man-made institution,
but by God, who knows no borders and binds Himself to no Creed; and the Purpose
of Government is to ensure that the People are allowed to enjoy these Rights;
the Government is to act as a steward for the Divine Will, not as an instrument
for channeling Man’s Petty Grievances; and as far as I’m concerned, a Government
fails to be such a steward, and therefore fails in the duty bestowed upon it by
the Founding Fathers, when it tells the People to think of their enemies as
vermin; when it denies full bodily autonomy to half the population; when it
decries all foreigners as scum; when it insinuates that one man, one mortal man,
is worthy not of respect, but of self-destructive Devotion; and, worst of all,
when it marries Christ to the imagery of bloodshed and violence and guns, when
it muddles the Divine with the Worldly, so that the Worldly seems Divine and is
therefore beyond reproach.

It is impossible to lead a fulfilling Life, it is impossible to enjoy Liberty,
and it is impossible to Pursue Happiness when your heart is pumped full of
grievance and resentment and hate; but when a Government does just that, it
betrays the People by tearing them away from the better angels of their natures;
so yes, we “should get out” of this sorry quagmire in which we find ourselves,
because the tired and the poor and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free
deserve to see that a More Perfect Union is Possible; and we who live in it
deserve to know that we can be Something More.

***

I have long been vexed by the role a writer is supposed to play in these fraught
circumstances; while I have valued the Art of Writing since before I could hold
a pen, I must confess that I have not infrequently used it as a means of
distinguishing myself from my peers, and not as an Art that can change the wider
world. Don’t get me wrong– telling stories has proven crucial for my psychic
survival over the years, and I thrill when the rhythm and the words just fall
into place in a poem. But I have struggled to believe the words in the mast of
this blog: “No matter what anyone tells you, words and ideas can change the
world.”

But if writing molds consciousness, as I believe it does; and if we are, once
again, truly a House Divided; and if the Art of Democratic Discontent is
threatened by encroaching Christian Nationalism; then it would seem that people
who pride themselves on their skill with the written word have a responsibility
to mold a New American Consciousness, one that moves beyond the tired paths that
have brought us, again and again, down the road of Division and Contempt; a
Consciousness that takes words and smashes them and turns them over and over in
its hands until they have lost all meaning and a new meaning must be forged; a
Consciousness that is unafraid to “go into the woods and live deliberately” and
“discover that [we] have not lived;” a Consciousness that is unafraid to Dream,
and Dream boldly, and Dream kindly, and Dream of a Wonderful World, “where
everyone giggles and rolls on the rug / where everyone kisses / and everyone
grins / and everyone cuddles / and everyone wins.”

And it is crucial for this New Consciousness to Dream, because Life without that
capital-R Romantic Wonder is not a Life worth living– if the Soul is not
bestirred to weeping, the Law has no human meaning.

In the words of Langston Hughes, this New Consciousness yearns for that “land
which has never been and yet must be– the land where every man is free.” And we,
the writers, have a duty to tell the world that it is possible… despite
everything that has gone so terribly wrong, it is still possible.

This country cannot be renewed, again and again, merely at the ballot box, every
four years. For the kind of substantive overhaul that I believe to be necessary,
we must go beyond the ballot box, and begin the ceaseless work of caring for our
country’s Soul.

***

And that is the purpose of this Project– a space for writers, or those who
admire the written word, to convene, and discuss the Soul of our Nation, and how
it can be healed, and how it can be kept on the Straight and Narrow Way. I know
some people will read that and recoil at such religious language; but I know of
no other way to describe the America beneath the America-We-See, the America
that we want America to Be, so I would just ask you to be patient with it, and
to believe that there is Something worth valuing, beneath the humdrum of our
lives.

Prompts for the first issue will be listed below. For subsequent issues, all
submissions must respond to something, or someone, in a previous issue. It
doesn’t matter how far back an author goes– if we’re lucky enough to get to
Issue no. 10, and a new author submits a piece that responds to something from
Issue no. 1, that is perfectly acceptable. The key is the response. The idea is
to create a chain of correspondence, a kind of living record of all the ideas
and all the beliefs and all the passions that are mingling together to create an
enduring, multicultural America, that will stand strong against the Far Right’s
ruthless clamoring for Law, for Order, for Forgiveness of Sins that We Commit
because we are God’s Ordained Party on this here Earth.

Many thanks in advance. I hope this “journal,” for as long as it lasts, is a
place of honest discussion, difficult growth, and enduring community. And I hope
you can feel proud, knowing that you have proven that words have power; and that
you have done something with your words to contribute to America’s revival,
whether that revival take place during a second Trump administration, or a
Democratic one. Because while the necessity of this project is obvious, when the
45th President is rambling about foreign rapists at the Republican National
Convention, the sad reality is that even if the 45th President loses, the
infrastructure, and the beliefs, that enabled him will still exist; and America
will still need to be written Anew…

I’m aiming to release Issue no. 1 during the second Presidential Debate.
However, I can extend that deadline, if enough writers reach out and say they
need a little more time…I will also extend it if anyone wants to be particularly
daring and thinks to remind me of my own oft-repeated disdain for doing anything
on any sort of timeline that doesn’t happen to be the one that I make-up as I go
along.

***

Prompts (feel free to submit a piece that is not related to any of the prompts
listed below. Additionally, I will release a new set of prompts, if I feel that
the conversation is starting to lag after a few issues.):

 1.  What is America? Can it be defined objectively? If not, what does it mean
     to you? How do you understand your different identities, in an American
     context? How has American failed as a nation, and how has it succeeded?
     What most upsets you about America right now? What would you like America
     to become?
 2.  What are you most worried about in this current election cycle? What issues
     do you care about the most? Why do you care about them? Do you have any
     proposals to tackle your most pressing issues?
 3.  If Democracy is truly in danger, well…it seems to me that we should start
     by defining “Democracy.” What is Democracy? And can America truly be said
     to be a Democracy? What would it mean for America to not be a Democracy?
 4.  How can we have national pride, knowing that our country has done terrible
     things, in the name of Liberty, and in the name of Security?
 5.  How does Pride become irrational, and bleed into violence? Do you have any
     sympathy for the rioters on January 6th? What does it mean for the rest of
     us that their anger culminated in the storming of the Capitol?
 6.  We’re taking it as axiomatic that violence in the name of the Greater Good
     is never acceptable, even if its rationale is understandable. But why. If
     people truly feel they have no other choice, and history shows again and
     again that they will not be listened to, why is violence not an acceptable
     solution? While, I must reiterate, this journal takes it as axiomatic that
     violence is never acceptable, it is important that we explain our
     reasoning, on even the most fundamental of questions, so that we are truly
     thinking for ourselves, instead of parroting soundbites.
 7.  What are we to do when we have principles we just can’t compromise on, like
     abortion? It’s either healthcare, or it’s baby murder…or, at least, that’s
     how the current conversation would frame the issue. When an unstoppable
     force meets an immovable object, is chaos really the only outcome, as the
     Joker from the 2008 film The Dark Knight believes; or is there another way?
 8.  What does Faith mean to you? How do you practice it? Why do you value it…or
     why not? If you are faithful, to what extent should the Church (any Church)
     be involved in the Political World? How do you feel when you see
     politicians…”misusing” it?
 9.  Why should anyone give a s*** about any of this? It’s not going to matter,
     anyway. In four years, the same old idiots will be saying the same old
     things; and everyone will be running around, saying the sky is falling for
     the twelfth time in as many years…why are these kinds of conversations
     important?
 10. Why do people feel like they’re not important? Why has politics become
     background noise, for so many people? In Democracy in America, Tocqueville
     asserts, again and again, that one of the principle elements of American
     Democracy is that everyone is involved, as a matter of disposition. What
     changed? (yes, for you Tocqueville critics- we’re taking him at his word,
     and not writing him off as someone trying to sell the idea of Democracy to
     the European Continent).
 11. When did you first become interested in politics? When did you realize you
     had a stake in all this? How can you convey the urgency of that moment to
     your/our readers? Or, if it was more of a process, how can you convey that
     gradual shift in your temperament?
 12. What would you like to say to someone you’ve passionately disagreed with,
     over the years? What do you most want them to understand? Do you have any
     regrets about any relationships that might have shattered, because of
     politics? Do you miss the people you used to spend time with? The things
     you used to say? Do you still love the people that you feel you can no
     longer talk to?
 13. [Insert your own prompt here]

***

For those who would like to contribute, a few guidelines:

 1. Submitted works can include fiction, poetry, philosophy (academic and
    non-academic, or something in-between), memoir, or a blend of all-the-above.
    * prose pieces must be between 1,000 and 10,000 words. If a 750-word piece
      is exceptional, I will consider it for inclusion. Anything longer than
      10,000 words will be assumed to be “insufficiently concise,” and returned
      to the author for ONE CHANCE at revision (assuming that all other
      requirements were previously met).
 2. As this is currently a one-man operation, and I am not qualified to judge
    visual art, I will discourage you at the outset from submitting it.
 3. Further, since the focus of this project is on the power of words, I will
    insist on stringent standards for the words themselves, those standards
    being:
    * the syntax must be bold and the sentence structures must be daring.
    * sentences must be musical. I will not consider anything that does not
      clearly gesture at its own unique sound.
    * mix up paragraphs, write essays backwards, anchor the text to the right
      margin instead of the left, I don’t care. Just use 12-point font,
      single-spaced, no Wingdings, no Comic Sans. Thank you.
    * all submitted pieces must come from a place of passion.
 4. That being said, I will not consider any piece, of any genre, that vilifies
    a person or any group of people. No one has the authority to say that the
    45th President is beyond redemption, for example. For fictional pieces, if
    such an attitude makes sense for the narrative, there is a chance I might
    reach out to the author, to get a better understanding of their thinking,
    before making a final decision.
    * However, if some enterprising thinker wants to take on the task of, say,
      arguing that the 45th President IS beyond redemption, I won’t necessarily
      disallow that, because sorting through the problem of “what makes a person
      worthy of forgiveness, in human eyes and in God’s eyes” could be an
      intriguing back-and-forth. But I would disallow something like, say,
      “Transgenderism is not real, and these are my reasons why.” The goal is to
      have intriguing discussions, with compelling language, and NOT to nurse
      anyone’s bigotry.
    * And on THAT note…slavery was very bad, for everyone involved. There were
      no positives. Yeah, maybe the economy of the South wouldn’t have
      flourished without slave labor…but that’s just a tragic fact, not a
      “positive.” So…that conversation doesn’t have a place here.
 5. Solutions, solutions, solutions. This will not become a rag for absorbing
    eloquent complaints. The general trend of these correspondences will be
    toward a More Perfect Union. Obviously, examining grievances, and processing
    rage et al., is important for Moving Forward. But the conversation must go
    on.
 6. I am not going to be strict about citations…but if you are quoting someone,
    or building off someone else’s ideas, you should find a way to acknowledge
    their contribution. I will be extraordinarily disappointed if this discourse
    becomes tainted by someone’s carelessness…or their dishonesty.
 7. I will not mandate content warnings, largely because one of the purposes of
    this project is to examine the Heavy Stuff of Life, and encountering
    uncomfortable topics (and unsettling words) should be expected. But, despite
    my own aesthetic preferences, I won’t discourage their use, either.

***

In the Above “Mission Statement,” I used language from Emma Lazarus’s poem “The
New Colossus,” Henry Thoreau’s “Walden Pond,” Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be
America Again,” Shel Silverstein’s “Tug O’ War,” Abraham Lincoln’s Second
Inaugural Address; and I took inspiration from Martha Nussbaum’s thesis in her
book Poetic Justice, which argues, in part, that policy makers should center the
“Literary Imagination” when crafting, and implementing, legislation.






BEYOND THE BALLOT BOX

"No matter what anyone tells you, words and ideas can change the world. " ~Robin
Williams

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