The image above comes from the website of a group called "Indivisible." The group identifies itself as "a grassroots movement of thousands of local ... groups with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda." There is a local chapter in Santa Cruz County, California. I'm supportive!
I am not so supportive of efforts that I am calling, "Indefensible." So far, there is no national group with that name! I am thinking that maybe we should start one.
Undoubtedly reflecting something found in one of the deeper layers of my cognitive file cabinet, the name, "Indefensible" popped to my mind because of its similarity to "Indivisible." What I am calling "Indfensible" are efforts to make national "Defense" the focus of our national politics.
A recent commentary in The Wall Street Journal went out of its way to tout how much we should make "Defense" our national priority. As commentator Ira Stoll put it, "populists of the right and left attack U.S. companies that make weapons. Who do they think protects us?"
As I have already said, I am not persuaded. In saying this, I hark back to a lesson from my mother, upon which I commented some time ago. What is so often called "Defense" is, in fact, a commitment to "War."
Those who remember 1984, the 1948 advisory penned by George Orwell, will recall that perpetual "War" is the way that a permanently authoritarian government can (and perhaps must) be maintained.
Let's not make that "1984" mistake. Committing our energies and wealth towards a preparation for "War" (call it "Defense" if you will) is to squander our historic opportunity to change our national life, and our international relationships.
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. That is a quote from Jesus, and it reflects Jesus speaking as a sociologist. He was right on point. Right now, we are facing (and everyone in the world is facing) a world-terminating threat; namely, global warming. This danger, this threat, provides us with an opportunity to recognize that we, as human beings on this planet, are truly "Indivisible."
We need to mobilize our resources, our economic resources and our individual energies, to respond to and overcome the challenge before us, and to help each other, all around the world, overcome the dangers that are not only ahead, but that press upon us now. Committing to "War" as our main focus (calling it "Defense" to disguise what we're really doing), is to do exactly the wrong thing. "Money," which is a way to make concrete our human energies, must not be wasted. We must mobilize our resources for the real threat. To do otherwise is - I'll say it again - "Indefensible."
The "Indivisible" nature of our human reality is where we must put our energies and efforts. We are (we really are) "together" in this life. "Indivisible" is the word that accurately describes our genuine reality. To commit to "Defense" as the focus of our concerns is to make a truly world-terminating mistake!
To make that mistake is - we need to understand this - "Indefensible!"
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