Okay, I cannot be inactive anymore.

I am, by virtue of Official Proclamation and my intelligent, enthusiastic, decision, a citizen of the United States of America. I have the Authenticated hard copies. I am also an expat. I am domiciled in the country of my birth, my native parentage, and my early upbringing.

As an expatriate I am watching, in helpless horror as my country is being transformed from the homeof the free, and the land of opportunity, (because, y’know, all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights), into a citadel for the religious oligarchy and their might is right theology.

That finger pointed, I must admit that my inaction has played a part in that ascendancy. Prior to 2016 I simply ignored the doings of the body politic. OH, I made time for the process of voting in the quadrennial presidential dance, but, didn’t pay much, or any attention, to the down ballot candidates; a cursory glance at party affiliation, biased towards the Democrat and Independent parties. This, as it turns out was an inattention of monumental proportions. Evidence of that inattention is in the makeup of the Legislative, Executive, and sadly, the Supreme Court of the United States. That inattention, predicated on a delicacy in bringing religion into the public discourse that inconvenient truth was left unattended. I paid little, not to say scant, attention to the holier-than-thou proclamations made by faith infused candidates in their candidature for offices ranging from small town mayor to local and state legislatures. This, as it turns out, is akin to ignoring the red light blinking a warning that systems necessary for the efficient functioning of a complex machine are in need of maintenance and care. The, I’ll deal with it when I get a chance impulse can, and often enough does, mandate the need for expensive repairs, or sometimes, replacement. Both options expensive, hurtful, and with remedies that can take decades to be effective.

 The vulgar crowd is taken in by appearances, Machiavelli opined. And on Nov 5th 2024 a sufficiency of the American electorate elected a whole slew of vulgarians into the halls of governance. Across the height, the length, the breadth, and the depth of the land, that electoral sufficiency, pastored by Prosperity Gospel spouting opportunists, a particular segment of the Christian faith preferring symbol to substance, found an idol, a golden idol, in Donald Trump. More importantly that blind faith segment also elected into the Offices of Governance acolytes of that gospel found in Donald Trump as useful an idiot as could be pra…hoped for.

The result of all of this, as separated from the headline grabbing ones, is that Religion, Corporate Religion, is dismantling the wall the Constitution of the United States built between the Church and the State. A sensible, well considered decision given the role religion has played in every conflict in the history of homo not-so sapient. In fact, when reviewing the efficacy of the Constitution in its initial adoption and making the adjustments necessary the People realized that it needed to be made clear that the imposition of personal faith could not be a part of governance. The importance of that reasoning is manifest in the fact that the very first amendment to the Constitution that constrained the Government from the establishment of any religion. This constraint has been adopted by every state in the Federation; in short guaranteeing the Right to the freedom of worship, or, not worship, as one chooses.

So, is the United States of America on its way to becoming a theocracy Are we, the American people to be governed by Divine Edicts as interpreted and broadcast by folks who hear voices that tell them what to do? I note that some of those folks have gods whose voices are terrible. Voices that threaten and in the blood soaked history, past and present, of theocracies, actuated. Is this the future for my granddaughter? Is this the consequence of my ignoring the local political tides? 

The damage Trump and his manipulators and enablers – read, the Republicans in both the House and the Senate – are doing to the Constitution of my country bodes ill for the future and it could well be my fault.

Curmudgeonly Caviling

Subjects I think I could be writing about, that is up until I actually start writing about them.

1. Beckon call – Which is how it should be written. Beck and call? Seriously? What on earth is a beck? And how does it aid in the process of calling?

2. Liberal outrage on Nancy Pelosi’s reticence on calling for Trump’s impeachment. Could it be that she is concerned about who would take his place. That would be POTUS Pence; a concept that almost guarantees the demolition of that Church/State wall.

3. I’m thinking we, liberals that is, ought to quit dissing Trump. Rather we should treat him the way we might treat a tantrum throwing infant by placating him. Y’know, refer to how cute and clever he is while keeping all sharp objects out of his reach, sort of thing.

4. Senior citizen horniness and how discreet we have to be about it.

5. Unrequited love silver lining – protection from morning breath.

6. Folks who take pride in not speaking local languages. This one is rife with potential but I’ll be damned if I can put my ire into any semblance of coherence. I tend to splutter when confronted with  this

7. The education kids receive, have received, and probably will continue to receive; namely, being taught what rather than how to think.

8. Living life by habit and how very much that is antithetical to appreciating the fullness of the now.

9. Religion – &&*&*&(999!!!!!SOB%##& and so on

10. Cigarettes and my addiction. Why am I so entranced by putting round objects in my mouth and sucking on them? What is the real me trying to say and I wish it would shut up. Exploring the implications makes me a chicken hawk. Not a pretty picture.

The Saffron March

Cassandra… no, wait, was it Cassandra? You know, the lady who warned folks of ill times and was reviled and jeered at for her troubles. Well, if it wasn’t she, it ought to have been, her name has the proper sibilance. Anyway, I think I hear her, but, I’m not jeering, ‘cuz, much as I don’t want to, I’m beginning to see what she is going on about here in, but not limited to, India. Indeed not.

But…

The worldwide [I mean, check out the state of affairs in the putatively non-religious Russia; the 12 Labors of Hercules (beta), Vladimir Putin and his heroic battle against the non-believers as visualized by State commissioned Art. And then there is all too obvious ISIL, the US Supreme Court decision that redefined ‘separation of Church and State’ not to mention North Kores], where was I? Oh yes, the worldwide trend of religion as governance, and the deification of politicians, is making itself more and more visible in the governance of India and that is a crying shame. And that, as Cassandra will have it, bodes for those who have the seeing of it..

Boding is not good. It darkens the vision and saps the spirit. Tomorrow becomes a bogey in the intervening night and can blind the senses to possibilities. Perceptions become selective and it becomes more and more difficult to remember that India is a young vibrant construct that has been more successful in this business of democracy and people power than have any of her contemporaneous bits and pieces of crumbled Empire

India has in 6 and a little bit decades reached a degree of social consciousness it has taken the US two centuries to realize. Largely, I think, because of a long tradition, culture, of tolerance and respect of difference, known as hinduism, the philosophy [h_p].

But…

The same tradition, culture, and philosophy, is being elevated to the upper case status of Hinduism, the Religion [H^R]. As Cassandra is pointing out, H^R is planting its pennons in the halls of power and governance. Saffron is becoming the Office wear of a number, an influential number, of India’s law makers. There are places in India where history is being re-formed into interpretations that suit the purposes of Faith and Belief, and included in school curricula.Local ordinances against hurt religious sentiments are being,  enforced, sometimes forcibly. Zealots, armed with cudgels and bricks, can enforce faith based rules and moralities with impunity and too often immunity. Religion based gerrymandering of the electorate is a fact of the politics of gover…

Wait one second. I’ve been through this once before. Let’s see, when was that? Oh yes, I recall, Ronald Reagan’s triumphant march, Crusader colors, symbols, justifications, and all. Which begat Dubya, a Right wing Supreme Court, the Republican Senate and Dick Cheney. And we can see the result of all of that, live, [you should pardon the expression], and bloody color  on CNN International any hour of the day or night.

I wonder if Cassandra would be willing to join me in a bottle of retsina.

Navratri and Love Jihad

Hinduism^R-the Religion,[as differentiated from hinduism_p-the philosophy], is saying, and doing, some ugly things.

For starters, Hinduism^R, is starting to show signs of becoming, Official.

Hinduism^R has begun to wa… stride the corridors of power. Law makers and administrators are making laws and rules that have their rationale in the religiously held belief that Majority makes Right; which makes the minority Wrong and in need of corrective measures. Human rights are being viewed through saffron tinted lens and are beginning to be found irrelevant to the cause of making India a Hindu^R nation. Which is so far away from hinduism_p (a philosophy that says, in short – Think, and you’ll see), that given the curvature of space/time, it is meeting Hinduism^R (a faith that says, at length - Believe and We’ll tell you what you are seeing), from the other side. Given the muscular aggression of Hinduism^R and the essential live and let live attitudes of hinduism_p, things are starting to bode.

Let me illustrate.

Word is that religious right-wingers, some in elected office, have ordered organizers of the Navratri (a nine night acknowledgment of Goddess Power) celebrations, to keep Muslim men out of venues that hold the Garba dances Garba dancing, for those of you who might be wondering, is a folk tradition involving energetic graceful choreography to driving rhythms, for the most part, although not exclusively, performed by young women. The edict, which in some places flaunts the imprimatur of Official Elected Satraps [OES], is the Saffron Satraps’ [SS], [talk about synergy], counter strategy to their belief that Islam^R has initiated a Love Jihad as part of their war against Hinduism^R. It seems Islam^R has tasked Muslim men with seducing Hindu^R women into marriage, conversion and Muslim baby production. The Garba dances, it seems, were to be targets of opportunity for the love jihadists, what with lithe bodies gyrating to driving rhythms and all.

And there you have it, a celebration of woman power; a decidedly hindu_p concept co-opted by the self serving paranoia of Hinduism^R.

Not that this comes as a surprise. Most, if not all, certainly all the so called Major Religions, take what start out as simple, graceful, caring philosophies, and distort them into grotesque self serving mechanisms of power; the original intent of amicable social contract and mediated compromise lost in the deluge of bombastic claims of salvation and truth; faith in higher power morphs into veneration of power.

The weird thing is that that some Islamist jihadists are going to think that a good plan and are, even as we speak, acquiring Hindu credentials and recharging their cell phone cameras.

I despair.

Religion in Governance

Religion and faith based governance, in a democracy, wow.

I don’t know why the oxymoronic quality of that doesn’t strike more folks, especially to the folks who vote saffron, skull cap, cross, what have you.

No, that’s not true, I do know why. They just haven’t thought about it. They cannot have. No thoughtful examination of the concept will fail to point to the contradiction of including “… because HE/SHE/IT says so” in a, of the people, by the people, for the people, system of the governance. Religion, as far as I can see, doesn’t allow for a whole lot of yeah-but-we’ve-been-thinking from their congregations. Rules is rules, they thunder, (hey, religion doesn’t have to be grammatical, or even coherent, come to that), from pulpits. It is not for you, you imperfect worm, they continue, to question the Word. Yours is to do or die. And we, the anointed voices of HE/SHE/IT, will tell you what to do, when to do it, and more often than not, how to do it, and no back-talk.

And there you have it.

Back-talk is exactly what makes a democracy, well, democratic. Back-talk, adversarial points of view, out-of-the-box thinking, and yes, even fringe opinions, are all part of the mix in the governance of as varied a lot of beings as we citizens; our individual self interests, corners rounded off by the compromises necessary for the existence of a collective well being, subsumed into the greater good, each of those corners discussed, deliberated, and only then fit into the whole.  Arguing with the power structure is what democracy is all about. Not a lot of that in the practice of religion which is given to edicts, commandments, and holy writ, a top down theory of governance. Which puts paid to any impulse to check with the People to see what they think about, oh, let’s say, killing in the name of the God-whose-Voice-is-all-Terrible. Nope, no consultation, no focus groups, no referenda, and most certainly, no back talk.

 That this, faith based governance, is happening here in India, home of lower case hinduism, the philosophy, is particularly galling. Saffron clad satraps have bullied their way into the halls of governance. It should be noted here that Saffron has become the battle color for upper case Hinduism, now an Official Religion, replete with rules, regulations, and intolerant righteousness. Pontificating from their tax exempt pulpits the Saffron Sages (SS) have been able to parlay their quite often irrational interpretations of the tenets of hinduism(lc) into the right and the power to impose on the rest of us their version of a pure State. Beef, they orate, and the eating of the same is antithetical to the dictates of Our One True God(s) and any Hindu who thinks otherwise is apostate. One such SS politician has gone on record as saying that cattle abattoirs are the source of Islamic Jihadists funding. Or so she believes and the fact that she is wearing Saffron when she goes to the office, well, that says it all, doesn’t it?  

I have no idea on how to deal with any of this. Religion and Faith have taken the place of rational discourse, world over. And all i can think to do is ... Holy Smoke.

What an idea, sirji.

Saffron Rock

There’s an oily sort of feeling to the politics of India today. There is a nausea inducing sort of slipperiness masquerading as the process of governance. Faith and religion’s imperatives are working their way into the oh-so-fragile skin of reason that is attempting to hold this billion plus collection of ego and emotion together.

And, it all feels so familiar. There is déjà vu happening all up in here. It’s like I’m hearing Carl ‘Retro’ Rove and his Christian Crew tuning up to play a gig in India; Christian Rock morphed into Saffron Rock (lyrics by RSS). Thrash music that assaults and overpowers the sense of the listener; rhyme and reason battered into submission by the screaming chorus of Because My God Says So.

Not that I’m accusing the Hindu Right of plagiarism, not at all, I hasten to add, as quickly as possible. I just think that the brains trust of India’s new Governors saw something that worked and by adding the much richer masala that is this ancient culture, made it their own.

Take this business of Ancient Culture as a simple solution to the trials and issues of a not at all ancient, far from simple, social organism. Do this. Don’t do that - Edicts of a simpler time as the way to manage the mad mélange of self-interest that is this modern construct, India. Any suggestion that those Ancient Rules of Behavior might not be an exact, or even comfortable, fit on the modern body politic is dismissed as the work of the devil, quite often, the foreign devil. Any argument that Ancient Writings, Vedas, Commandments, what have you, are guidelines and not, as it were, carved in stone, is howled down as anti-national and disloyal, treasonous, Christian America and Hindu India. Culture elevated to the status of Religion. It wasn’t that good a song when Ronnie and the Republicans were doing their thing; it hasn’t gotten any better by adding masala to it. But for some reason, or the lack thereof, Ronnie and the Reps were able to spawn a faith based form of governance that produced George W. Bush and the Democracy Destroyers. It took a while, but Carl and Crew got there. I don’t think it is going to take that long in India. After all India is doing in 60 years what took the USA 200 years to do.

I guess I’m hoping that India’s lean and hungry youth will do better than the fat and happy US electorate. Maybe India’s youthful intelligence will recognize the dangers of isolate purity and vote for the exhilaration of diversity. Festivals are best when new meets old and dances in the melodies so created.