San Marcos, CA
February 2, 2017
by Rich Scheck
I have been having an extended dialogue with the famous and funny Steve
Bhaerman, aka Swami Beyondananda, for many years.
Steve is a self-styled progressive dedicated to creating a new political party
bridging the left and right.
That is an enterprise I have spent the last 42 years working to see happen:
https://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=57250
Steve preferred Hillary despite his view that she was corrupt because he
thought it would be easier to get the left on-board a future alliance with
the right.
I thought Trump was clearly better because of his wrecking ball style that
disrupted the establishment political parties and media. I could not embrace
rewarding the Clintons in any manner for their years of abusing the public trust.
Well, I “won” that discussion even though we both agreed that neither person
was likely to be effective in office.
Now we have President Trump and things are rapidly escalating and imploding at
the same time. Foreign policy is in disarray as the world situation worsens.
Domestically we have increasing turmoil as the left shows no willingness to
accept the election results while increasingly resorting to violence.
Clearly we are in a unique historical period similar to the Civil War, the Great
Depression and the Viet Nam era unrest. How this turns out remains to be seen.
Swami and I both support a new transparitsan political party. We disagree on a
few specifics (like the reality of man-made global warming) but pretty much are
on the same page regarding everything else. Our styles are different, too: he is
unrelentingly witty while I tend towards the serious.
But the need is striking and our efforts worthy of widespread support. In a recent
exchange, Steve responded to the seemingly hopeless current developments with
a brilliant passage that is heartfelt and especially inspiring to me at this dark moment.
I have decided to share it with a wider audience in the hope that others will heed his
message and be encouraged to stay positive in the coming days.
Here are the Master’s words of wisdom for today:
We hit peak grace a while back. A lot of self-reflection in the self-reflecting pool will be required. The good news is, the veils are parted for those willing to see. And as you suggested, when the dust settles (if it ever does) there will be a true transpartisan opportunity as awakening libertarians will recognize that there is no freedom or liberty in Trumpland, and progressives recognize that only a movement from “deep center” can wrest the steering wheel from the oligarchs.
Blessings and love to all who see this. Be of good cheer dear friends.
In some way we must prevail and keep the light held high for those we love.