I tend to blog about patterns in nature and the wisdom of working with them. I tend to avoid politics in my blog. But Trump’s presidency comes from such a different set of patterns that I feel a responsibility to speak up. So two short essays.
The Economic Small Water Cycle
I’ve written a lot about what some hydrologists call “the small water cycle.” The large water cycle is the sun-powered evaporation and transport of moisture from the oceans over onto the lands. The small water cycle is the local cycling of that water from the time it first falls upon that land until it finally re-enters the ocean. Some of the small water cycle is evaporation from lakes and pond and dew but much of it is transpiration from leaves. The “small” water cycle more than doubles the amount of moisture that falls upon the land.
I’ve been thinking of this as I read about Trump’s and Musk’s firing people and crudely slashing programs, apparently to justify continuing the enormous tax cut he gave to the wealthy during his first term. Governments are an organizational structure that can act like the small water cycle, taking wealth as it concentrates and recycling it, diffusing it over the upper economic watershed to flow again, more than doubling the amount of wealth nourishing the culture.
I think Trump and Musk see tax money going to the poor as money going to waste. They don’t understand the power of recycling. To terminate thousands of workers with very little notice will lead some of them to lose their homes and medical insurance. It will lead to many more throttling back on their spending out of fear. It will lead to reduced money flow through local businesses. It can compound into and through the national economic system.
The more water that gets recycled within the small water cycle, the more water is available throughout the system. The more money that circulates within local economies, the more wealth accumulates within the entire watershed. Trump wants to divert money away from those who use it to buy food and childcare and rent and give it to those who will use it to buy inflated art and yachts. (For the record, I was brought up in a conservative community so I don’t favor giving money to the poor. I prefer it funds community-enhancing jobs that hire the poor. It funds better schools that serve the poor. It provides free vaccines for everybody. Etc., etc.)
February 17th Rally
Alysia and I participated in the February 17th rally against fascism in Redding. Shasta County is very conservative; Trump won 67% of the vote. The county has made national news with the chaotic actions of its MAGA county board of supervisors and some local school boards.
To our delight, attendance was estimated at 400. The honking by cars in support was almost continuous. This participation was greater than anything I experienced during Occupy or Trump’s first term protests. It felt like Trump’s and Musk’s “shock and awe” actions made more people realize that they needed to take a stand now.
I talked to two people who were hesitant to come due to fear of violence. About a half-hour into the protest, a dozen counter-protestors arrived. Within minutes, there was lots of shouting back and forth around these arrivals. About twenty minutes later, I became aware of two men threatening to fight one another.
No! This can’t happen. If there is an outbreak of violence, it will scare some people from attending future rallies like this. It will be a forerunner of Nazi brownshirts suppressing all opposition. This can not happen! I moved in between the two men, telling them “no.” They started moving away from the protest to a more private place to fight. I stayed between them as they moved. They taunted and egged one another on for about three minutes. I stayed between them, saying “no” equally to both.
During this time, I was aware of three thoughts going around and around in my mind.
1. I am safe. There is no way either of these men would hit a 74 year old man standing between them. He would be seen as a thug if he did.
2. This is like heading off into the grizzly bear backcountry of Denali Park. I did it many times. Just get past the hesitation and start.
3. “A harsh word stirreth up anger. A kind word turneth away wrath.”
As I knew, I was safe. They gradually accepted that their fight was not going to happen. Harsh shouting and wrath turned away.
When I returned to the rally, I saw that the shouting had ended and that almost every MAGA protestor was engaged in discussion with one or two of the rallyers. (This change was because of what others had been doing and was independent of what I had done.) I saw the “MAGA man” who was at the epicenter of the initial shouting engaged in quiet discussion with a man. I went up to him after that conversation and noted how the initial shouting had turned into conversations throughout the crowd and thanked him for his part in that change. We ended up talking for 15 to 20 minutes. We both raise chickens. He likes what Trump is doing but he doesn’t like Trump as a person. In the course of our discussion, he said that the reason he was shouting was because the moment he arrived, the rallyers started shouting that he was a racist and a white supremacist. He said he wasn’t and that being yelled at like that led him to yelling back at them.
I came home with two suggestions for encounters with the “other” side. “Don’t stereotype” and “Don’t SHOUT.” Shouting to each other is a downward feedback spiral. Your shouting leads others to have to shout louder which leads you to having to shout louder. No one is really listening; they’re just preparing for their next shout. Best thing is to walk away and try to engage one person in conversation. Learn about them. We can become so siloed that to simply become an actual person to one another is a constructive step forward.
I was very proud of our town after that rally.
A sentence that arose in my mind yesterday that’s worth sharing.
Have you stopped long enough to see which direction the clouds are moving?
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