Spirit Moves In Strange Ways

11/8/2025

Last Tuesday we witnessed a sound rejection of the politics of fear, intimidation and mean spiritedness. We have new Governors in Virginia and NJ as well as a new mayor in NYC.

Having said that, we need to be vigilant not to become apathetic or self-satisfied that some of the most egregious policies of the past year may be rolled back ... or ... that things are ok. They are not.

We must keep in mind that the duality of the right/left and Dem/GOP is just a smokescreen that keeps the goings on behind the curtain (yes, a reference to the Wizard of Oz) hidden from our view.

The billionaire/oligarch class are still funding every candidate and have their hands in all pies; ready to infect any new and decent initiative with the virus of greed, division and general unworkability.

--There will be more Mitch McConnell's that block appointments and manipulate parliamentary procedures
--There will be more figures grasping to power even as their mental faculties evaporate.
--There will be another Democratic Convention that ignores democratic process and crowns a candidate
--There will be more gerrymandering
--There will be more supreme court decisions that are clearly out of step with what Americans want.
--There will be more presidents who ignore our rights and userp power (Bush authorized torture, Obama authorized the first killing of Americans and now we have Trump engaged in murder on the high seas and the use of ICE as his own personal police force)

WHAT ARE THE QUERIES OF THIS TIME UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES?

How can I remain spiritually awake?
Am I looking for the movement of spirit in both small and big ways?
What are the Quaker values I can map onto any situation?
Where can I witness the truth of Chirst's path (A witness of love by any other name)
In what ways have I given up hope? Become apathetic? Avoided action where action is needed?
In the duality of our existence, as we hang between fear and loathing, hope and fear, want and excess -- what is the THIRD WAY?
What new forms can we create that highlight, showcase and expand our shared humanity?

~ Joseph OLekak

3 Comments

Christina A Beauchemin link

11/8/2025 06:16:26 am

These are fantastic questions, Joseph. I have so many thoughts. :)

Donald Lathrop

11/8/2025 03:54:16 pm

Nice work, again.

Thanks.

Don

Jason Malfatto

11/11/2025 05:44:59 am

Joseph,

Thanks for sharing these thoughts. I especially appreciate your list of queries (more on that below).

Re: "billionaire/oligarch class...still funding every candidate"

I doubt that many billionaires are interested in funding Bernie Sanders, given his anti-billionaire rhetoric and democratic socialist brand. But, strictly speaking, billionaires are free to donate to him and to similar candidates.

That's why I look for candidates who appeal for small-dollar donations, which are more likely to come from a wide distribution of voters, as opposed to mostly from the billionaire/oligarch class. For example, recall Bernie's asking for no more than $27 in his presidential campaigns.

The way that campaign finance model shows up in the data is as "Small Individual Contributions (< $200)", so whereas 63.62% of Bernie's funds fall into that category, only 13.10% of Chuck Schumer's do. The numbers are similar for Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, 54.62% and 14.97% respectively. [source: https://www.opensecrets.org/candidates-officeholders]

All this leads me back to your fifth query above: "In what ways have I given up hope? Become apathetic? Avoided action where action is needed?" My expectations of electoral politics are somewhat lower than they used to be, but I find that I only need a tiny minority of people to give me hope. As it says in the Talmud: "The world has no fewer than thirty-six righteous people in each generation who greet the Divine Presence."

Spirit Moves In Strange Ways

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