Empire, Unstable
I'm old enough to remember what it looked like before the Soviet Union fell. Empire, unstable.
I remember. There were a lot of pieces to it and too much to describe, but I remember.
I have to wonder if it looks a little bit like that from outside this empire.
Only we're a lot more mixed up and interconnected geographically. The fractures and fragmentation don't align along map lines or political regions.
They just don't. Anyone dismissing that as supposedly red states or supposably blue states maybe isn't willing to look deeper inside to see all of the people within the states that don't fit those categorizations.
This country held together during the Trump Administration primarily because of some of the institutions being stable enough, and in particular because the people within those institutions for the most part held key bits together.
Those institutions are under much broader attack now.
It's much more distributed now within our federalist system. In other words, it's now more distributed between the local government, state government, and federal government.
In the Trump Administration, it was primarily the federal government institutions being eroded. Now it's to school boards, some elected law enforcement, election oversight, some governors, counties and cities here and there, and many, many state legislatures.
It's damn serious.
The thing about the United States is it's hard to tell what would happen if it went to permanent minority rule. If this corrosion of the institutions at every level is allowed to hold and stick.
What would that mean for our place in the world? For our actions as a superpower? For the world order?
I don't know.
I suspect that's the vested interest many have in watching our stability, though.
I do know this.
It's not going to be enough this year to hope that a couple of people hold a few institutions together.
It's just not going to be enough.
The center of gravity of the country itself is pulling apart.
That's important.
You need a heart.
You need a soul.
You need something that holds all the pieces together. Relatively well. And in a stable way.
We're losing that.
Our social fabric is frayed. It's torn up. Parts of it have burned away. Other parts are completely knotted and mangled. Some of the bits are stretched way, way, way too thin.
The work that we need to do to hold this country together is heart work. Soul stuff. It's core stuff. Molten core of the planet type of stuff. Of a sun.
That's what gravity is.
It's the heat and weight of so many things at the center of those things that holds them together. And everything around them.
We're losing that. We're absolutely losing that.
It's all more at risk because we're afraid. We're afraid of our neighbors. Both sides are afraid of their neighbors. Both sides see a threat.
A bunch of the people in the middle just want it all to go away and to see some stability. Hell I'd like that too, honestly. But that's not going to be achievable anytime soon.
There's a lot of rough between here and stability. Perhaps years. Likely years.
We're going to need a massive effort this year like we've never seen to hold this country together.
To work on those heart and soul pieces that are the gravity we need to hold this thing together.
It's going to need to be more than one thing.
I very rarely say things in this way, but here's an exception:
Don't let anyone tell you that any one thing is the key to everything or it all falls apart. That's just total crap.
We need a zillion things, and we need a zillion people working to hold them together.
If one thing falls, then let's hold the next thing.
If that thing falls, then let's hold the next thing. Maybe let's build up another thing also while we're busy holding things up. Or maybe build up a couple of things.
Here's one thing you can do right now. Talk to the people in your life about what's going on here. About what's at stake. Maybe talk through some plans or some fears or some ideas.
Here's another thing you can do. You can start creating the space to work on this. Wrapping things up that need wrapping up. Getting extra things in place that you might need if things get rough. Finding tools or resources you might need. Or that you might offer. Putting stuff some things together that could be useful in dicey situations.
It's worth taking the time.
Or it's worth taking the time to even think through some of that. To allow yourself to do it.
It's one thing to read about it here on a Facebook post.
It's another thing to go digging around in a closet or a pantry and rearranging things in a serious way. Or to have an awkward upside-down inside-out talk with people who maybe aren't ready for what's coming.
We are going to need all of the things and all of the people this year.
Whatever this fight becomes, it's likely to be unprecedented.
Everything about this moment is so far. With much more unprecedented to come.
For myself, I hit a couple of technical walls and I'm still working on getting my ducks in a row so I can help contribute and bring people together.
I'm exasperated beyond measure as I wanted to be ready by now, but the truth is I need more time. I've also got a big family thing this weekend.
I'm trying to listen to my own advice to keep the faith. It's annoying when you have to listen to your own advice.
But I know we've got good people and I know we are going to find amazing ways to shift this country. I know we will. Lots of people are depending on us to. Future people are, as well.
What are you working on where you are? What are you worried about? What are you putting together?
What are you creating the space for? What are you allowing the possibility of?