03.05.2016
Voting
– Heart vs. Head
I went to my caucuses last Tuesday night. I showed up
to vote for Hillary, and I did, as I said I would. I am proud to have done so, proud
to be casting this vote for the person I expect will be the first woman to hold
the office of the president.
The caucus site was disorganized. There were three
different precincts voting at Jefferson Elementary, and there was not much
clarity about where you were supposed to go. However, once I figured that out,
matters proceeded in an orderly fashion.
I was expecting something different from what I
experienced. I thought there would be a period to persuade and convince the
other voters, but there was not.
I showed up; received my ballot, marked it and put it
in a box. Many people left after that point. Fewer than one-hundred, of
six-hundred stuck around. I did.
I listened to the organizers, tell us the rules of the
caucus. They went over the agenda. We elected people to committees. I was
elected as a delegate to the endorsing convention for DFL Senate District 61.
I listened as a number of ballot resolutions were
introduced by various party activities. Most of the measures I supported. There
were some that I was disinterested in. There was one that I spoke against. The
measure I spoke against passed, and I was the only person opposed to it. It was
a call for a constitutional amendment to reform campaign financing, the issue
that was articulated seemed that it could be gotten too much sooner through the
normal legislative process, or through the courts; than through the more
onerous, and more dubious process of a constitutional amendment.
There was little, actual opposition, to any of the
resolutions that were offered, though I sensed that there were real opposition
that simply went unspoken.
Many of the resolutions had a “daydreaming” quality, “pie
in the sky” realism.
It set me to thinking about some of the conversations
I have had about my support for Hillary.
My precinct went for Bernie at a rate of about 4 to 1
(a little better). Minnesota went for Bernie in the final count. Here in my
neighborhood, at my job, and among my friends I have definitely felt like I was
in the minority.
When asked about my support; my response begins with
this: “I have always supported Hillary Clinton. She is smart and capable, and
will prove to be an effective manager of government.
“While I agree with the idealism that Bernie Sanders
expresses, I do not believe that idealism and politics should mix.”
This seems counter-intuitive to most of the people I
have spoken with.
There is a well-established, but uncritical norm; vote
for the candidate you like, for the candidate you believe is right. Vote for
the candidate that speaks to your heart, for the one that make you feel good.
The slogan of the sanders campaign is not: Understand the Bern, analyze it, asses
it, and know it. The slogan is Feel the
Bern.
Feel it.
I am not suggesting that we should not feel good about
our votes, but feelings are more easily moved than reason, more easily preyed
upon, and more easily misdirected.
While the appeal to idealism may articulate the place
we want our society to be, when that appeal is fueled by the power of emotions
it does not leave any room to negotiate, or compromise with those on the other
side of the table.
Idealism is too easily transformed into fundamentalism,
the uncritical sense of empowerment based on the belief that you are right.
Fundamental-idealism is a powerful force. It can
motivate a lot of people, but it also brings out an ugly and even violent
aspect of our human nature. This is true wherever the arrow of your idealism is
pointing.
I have heard a lot of my sisters and brothers on the
left side of the political spectrum tell me:
If Bernie loses they will sit out the election.
They will never vote for Hillary.
Hillary is no different than a republican.
Republicans and democrats are the same, that’s why we
need a socialist.
Hillary is evil and she must be stopped.
This is the place that fundamental-idealism brings us
to in our politics. This is the power of the heart over the head.
We suffer the machinations of the fundamentalists on
the other side of the spectrum all the time. They have taken over the
republican party. Their idealism has led them to name corporations as people,
to curtain the voting rights act, to fear the immigrant, to religious
intolerance, and too many other atrocious principles to articulate.
Though I am predisposed to supporting the agenda from the
left wing, tyranny can also flow from those good intentions, but it will only
flow from that idealism if it uncritical and fundamentalistic.
