Revering Eldership

Ageism is part of WSC

America needs to deal with its ageism and worship of youth. It is up there in white supremacy culture. It is all about "fluff and gloss."

You throw out your elders, including their wisdom, institutional memory, and mature perspective.

My president is a stutterer. I am not. If I were faced with the lies that he was facing in that debate, I would have been stuttering myself and mixing up names and details. Yet, he had mastery of data. But…. “He is old.”

I am 20-plus years younger than him and still mix up names and details and I have been doing that for more than 30 years.

It is our loss that he did this incredible thing to step aside. Amazing and incredible as an elder statesman. I wish my mother lived to experience his presidential leadership. I have enjoyed experiencing his humanity while he has been in office. Unfortunately, my fave, #44, former President Obama was not allowed to be human. He had to be exquisitely perfect to be in the White House.

White supremacy culture is about "looking good" and "being perceived as looking good" - "fluff and gloss" that is the emptiness of white supremacy culture.

That is how that other guy (#45) has won over his folks. He is perceived as strong, masterful, and in command – all fluff and gloss. Under that, he is a boldface liar, rapist, all-around narcissist, power-hungry dictator, and inhumanely manipulative.

He is an embarrassment and disgrace to felons globally.

Now, I write that last paragraph knowing if that guy wins, the type of language I am using can put me on the radar as "dangerous and oppositional" and could come back to bite me in the butt. But... Ok. And, I stand with and for Truth.

I have an ancestor who was imprisoned for speaking out against the government and its oppression of labor workers. Speaking Truth to power is in my DNA.

Nevertheless, we have a conundrum. If America was not ready for a competent-as-hell white woman president, how the hell do we win this election with a competent-as-hell Black woman president a mere 8 years later?

And yes, we win, but what happens in 4 years, and what happens with the Supreme Court?

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The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum of Its Parts

Dems, please understand that yes, we like analysis and smartness. But do you see how the other side just comes together and, no matter what, they have a unified voice and position?

Yeah, that - The whole is greater than the sum of its parts - they get it.

It is WSC that dictates that our individual opinions matter more than the whole and that we have a right to those individualized opinions.

Please, for once, can we have a coherent and unified voice? This is what community looks like. We can take a position and not destroy the whole infrastructure just because we want our individualized voices heard. We can support each other. Support of another for the benefit of community does not invalidate our individual positions. Often, our positions are mere degrees apart, not miles. Can we come together and unify?

I know that this simple blog post may not make much of a difference in the world but I find it necessary to write this out to relieve some of the internal pressure that I feel.

I fear for my life, for your life, and for this country if we end up with the alternative. I really do.

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One Last (almost irrelevant) Note

I do not “like” Kamala.

I do not like the police, and former prosecutors are police as far as I am concerned. That is personal. It has nothing to do with her competency. I just don't trust the po-po. But, consider my personal background, and then maybe you can begin to understand my sentiment.

My dislike of her career trajectory has absolutely nothing to do with anything. She is competent as hell. She will be an awesome and incredible president.

My money, my energy, my vote, my everything goes to her (assuming she is our nominee.) I do not like her but I admire her character, hard work, and what she has accomplished quietly. My heart softens at hard wor, heritage, and her familial and marital mixed-up-ness. I am especially proud of her HBCU representation.

I might try to get over my dislike of the po-po just because of her. She is more than worthy of my liking her. And it still has not a damn thing to do with anything.

The reason I point this out is that last time, 8 years ago, many said, “I just don’t ‘like’ Hillary. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I just don’t ‘like’ her.”

Liking someone has nothing to do with their competence. I would shut up about #45 if he were competent. I do not have to like the person in power. I do not have to like their policies. I do not have to like their platform. I just want democracy and competency. Our collective future has hope with democracy and competency in place. Our alternative to Kamala is dictatorship and incompetency.

You do not have to “like” your leader.

Listen here, young uns, you don't have to “like” her. That is not why we vote. We vote for competence and for the ability to care for the larger community. She wins hands down. Her running is not about her ego, but about us, the constituents.

Get your money together. Give money to her campaign. Give your energy to her campaign. Hype her up. Hype up her work. Hype up her values.

And plan. Plan for what happens in 4 years.

Talk about what we want and not what we don’t want.

Liking a person has nothing to do with their capacity to lead.

Vote. Give. Our very lives depend on it.

We’ve got this.

And do pray. The Spiritual element is still at work.