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I once heard reader Enrique Enriquez make the comment (on the Hermit’s Lamp podcast) that “you can read the future in the objects you arrange around you.” To me, this implies that you can also affect, and change, the future by properly arranging objects around you—in other words, by cleaning, by decorating, by organizing your space in a way that supports your functionality. When in doubt, wash the dishes! Or something.
When in doubt, wash the dishes!
What can we learn from Enriquez’s magical insight about how to approach this political moment?
I’m thinking about this as I ponder my feeling of pride that the Democrats are calling on Senator Menendez to resign, because he was convicted of accepting bribes and of acting as an agent of Egypt. I am happy to see my party drawing a line and saying that we will not support political corruption—and I see this as a clear contrast with Republicans who are happy to elect anyone with any morals as long as they gain power. Which is not to say that Democrats have never been guilty of this—American political history is full of corrupt incidents and corrupt politicians, in all our various parties. But—not this time.
What brings me to Enriquez and magical housekeeping, though, is Senator Fetterman’s joke, “Regardless, I’m getting his parking space.” Which, interestingly enough, is no longer to be found on Politico where I read it! (Currently MSN still has the version with this quote, though.)
Maybe you’re expecting that the next thing I say will be something about visualization and manifestation, about visualizing the thing that comes AFTER the thing you hope will happen. About punching through the target and not at it, to use a martial arts metaphor.
But that’s not my point at all. It’s a logical inference but it’s not my point.
My point is about magic, and about subtlety, not about determination or trying your best.
And thus, even I am not quite sure yet what my point is—I’m finding it out by writing this post.
What’s happening with Senate Democrats, in the wake of the Menendez conviction, is that they object to having someone with corruption around them, in their space. Are they reacting like this is a purity test? Well, maybe—but I don’t love the word “purity,” which is so often associated with Christian nationalism and white supremacy. Housekeeping is about cleanliness and order, yes, but it’s not so much about purity as it is about style, about how you say who you are by how you live, how you decorate, who you invite into your house and how you prepare your house to welcome those you invite in. In politics, the “objects around you” include who and what you welcome with your presence, your efforts to be inclusive and equitable, your efforts to be caring and compassionate, your ways of demonstrating your integrity, the people you choose to associate with and who you support through your association, and the events that such associations lead to. Politicians do worry about being tainted by their associations, and they also hope to lead in ways that are iconic, that produce a positive image in a voter’s mind, that will cause the voter to feel a sense of alignment with the politician’s style.
In politics, the “objects around you” include who and what you welcome with your presence, your efforts to be inclusive and equitable, your efforts to be caring and compassionate, your ways of demonstrating your integrity, the people you choose to associate with and who you support through your association, and the events that such associations lead to.
We could think of those styles of politicians, and the style of their associations with people, with events, with places, in terms of elements like the elements in a tarot deck. People often feel drawn to politicans who are charismatic in a fiery way, and humor, like Fetterman’s comment that perhaps he thought better of and asked Politico to delete (is that what happened? I don’t know), is often fiery. Laughter releases air and air provides the energy for fire. Biden has a style that often feels kind of watery, to me: He has that heart-centered impulse to reach out to grieving people—there’s some fire to that, but it’s the fire that warms the cup of tea. He also has a feeling of earth about him, not just because of his fondness for ice cream, but because he’s kind of like an old rock that someone picked up out of an old river bed somewhere. He’s like, “I shouldn’t be getting left behind here, I should be flowing with the river.” If we find such a rock, we might carry it along, it might become a pocket rock, because such a rock can be reassuring.
But now that I’ve tried to awaken your sense of the poetry of the moment, let’s return to the objects and events around us, the ones we can read or arrange the future in.
What objects are arranged around Trump right now? Here in Milwaukee, at the RNC, and, sure, let’s also include the momentous weekend before. I see, here and now, three things: violence (the assassination attempt, and also, the murder of a Milwaukee man yesterday by police brought from Ohio for the RNC), hunger (because it was reported that a lot of the food vendors at the Fiserv were running out of food, maybe from all the road closures), and a slow and cautious climate for business (because in the area around the RNC secure zone, businesses are reporting that business is slow, much slower than they expected during the RNC (in fairness, the few businesses inside the zone said they were doing better than usual). And I see a VP nominee chosen for his apparent loyalty (though even that is being questioned by people looking back a few years in time).
What objects are arranged around Biden right now? Well, the White House itself, giving him the incumbent advantage, for whatever that is worth this year. A party filled with anxiety, arguing that the ultimate outcome is more important than loyalty to a party leader, the president. A loyal and strong vice president who is willing to do whatever is needed. A Zoom call that Biden interrupted (a detail I read in Puck News) to go to mass. We can’t contrast the DNC with the RNC yet, of course, because the DNC won’t happen until August. Whatever contrast we notice between the DNC and RNC at that point will be of particular interest in seeing where this is all going, what the two contrasting paths lead to.
At a subtle level, I think Democrats would be well advised to arrange the objects around them, at the DNC in Chicago, quite intentionally. I think they would be well-advised to invite inside any protesters, and feed them and their delegates well. I think they should strive for an atmosphere of happiness and celebration, of joy, of well-being for all in the area.
At the DNC, Democrats would be well-advised to invite inside any protesters and feed them well.
That would draw a clear contrast between the DNC and what I am seeing here in Milwaukee, this week, of the RNC. Whether or not Biden is the Democratic nominee, there should be plenty of ice cream and other festive foods getting handed out at the DNC, not just in the convention itself, but out in the streets nearby. There should be music and dancing in the streets. The mood should be celebratory, in a “hurrah, we’re almost there” kind of way. The DNC should show us how the convention is not about locking things down, but about opening them up, not about telling people how to live, but about being glad to see them and having a party. The DNC’s housekeeping should say to America: “We’re the fun people! Come and join the dance with us!” And invoke the dancing in the streets that happened right after we found out that Biden won the 2020 election.
We are the fun people!
But Bonnie, this is a serious moment with democracy (and a lot of other things too) at stake!
Yes. I know that!
But that is precisely why we need to respond with radical joy. It will raise the energy, it will remind us what we all believe in, and it will get us through the final stretch.
Music.
Dancing.
Humor.
These are the tools. And they’re nonviolent! Please wield them skillfully.
Quiet Bonnie 