[Buddha-l] Fw: Buddhist social deconstruction

[jkirk]

Since we've got onto the topic of prisons, war etc, I thought members might 
like to read this old message from the list.  I wish Ross would post again, 
over two years since he wrote this.
Joanna
==============================================
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ross Barlow" <rbarlow at PENN.COM>
To: <BUDDHA-L at LISTSERV.LOUISVILLE.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 6:28 PM
Subject: Re: Buddhist social deconstruction


> Richard asked:  <Is my understanding of how "political" is used more
> or less on target?>
>
> The word "political" is indeed a dirty word to many Americans these
> days.  To many, it represents a lust for Power over others.  Police
> power.  The power of the god-awful goose-stepping State.  And the
> politician is the ultimate lecher after this power, the whore who
> sells his wares to anyone who pays with a vote.  His wares are
> plundered from the people via "laws,"  regulations and taxes.  The
> symbol of politics is a prison cell.
>
> "Political" also means "dogmatic" more and more as American political
> cultures grow so far apart that they can no longer converse with one
> another.  The only thing they have in common is their desire to use
> the tool of politics to go after whoever they define as heretics.
> Ideologies – religious and secular – have their creeds memorized and
> their political action-plans in place, ready to bring the hammer of
> the State down on their enemies.
>
> Perhaps a better term for a Buddhist oriented concept of human
> interaction would be "social" or "cooperative."  Social motivation is
> voluntary, from the heart, and non-coercive.  While political power
> tends to corrupt, social power encourages virtue.  Political power
> calls on the cops to draw their guns, while social power calls on
> individuals and organizations to draw on their compassion and
> understanding.  The symbols of social interaction are metta, mudita,
> genuine dialogue, and a willingly helping hand.
>
> Users of the political way whore after public opinion for their
> justification to enlarge the American Empire, invading at will
> everywhere at anytime to force their way on others.  This appeals to
> the bully-boy redneck who, in his youth, loved to beat people up and
> who now has government agents who will beat the hell out of those
> foreigner-heathens in his name.
>
> The political whores legislate majority religious/ethical norms for
> the majority against the minorities in the name of "community
> standards," "the American Way," "tradition," Christianity, etc.  They
> force their ways on all.  It is naked compulsion, pure and simple.
> Their weapon is politics.  Even Buddhists could use political power to
> coerce advantages over others.
>
> The political whores coerce huge shares of citizens' earnings to pay
> for their wars, for their "public-spirited" schemes of bringing a
> share of the loot back to their constituents in exchange for votes,
> and for their payoffs to all politically-connected thieves (both
> well-heeled and professionally shabby).  It is theft, graft, plunder,
> and might-makes-right pillage.  It depends upon violence and force to
> get its way.  Halliburton has its whores in Washington (highly placed,
> I am told).
>
> Where has compassion gone these days?  Where is the idea of letting
> people be in peace?  Where has tolerance gone?  Has America ever had
> these ideas?  Can they be re-gained/ re-taught?
>
> I have lived in America for 53 years.  But now, more than ever
> before, I feel like dropping out, because the American game has more
> than ever become Politics – i.e., using legislation to plunder,
> coerce, bully, and kill.  I will never vote in another election for
> any of these sleazy whores again.
>
> Politics be damned.  It is time to renounce such ancient
> warfare-bound thinking and to shift to a more civilized social and
> voluntary outlook.  It is time to look away from power-mad rat-holes
> like Washington, Ottawa, Rangoon or Beijing and to look to our
> neighbors and ask them "How are you doing these days?  How can I help
> you?"
>
> The Ring of Power cannot be wielded without corrupting the wearer.
>
> Politics, War, Coercion and Plunder have been standard human games
> for all time.  Why did the Buddha decide not to pursue these courses
> of action?  Did he see a better way?
>
> -Ross Barlow.
> an anarchist in the American revolutionary tradition.
> Don't Tread On Me.
>
>