This afternoon we had a teach-in at St. Lawrence University. the first in a long time on the campus, and my first since the Vietnam era. The subject was “Save Our Constitution” and while some right wing professors sneered that it was hippy stuff, the gathering was well attended by those faculty and students who put the well being of their country ahead of their prejudices. We filled the large meeting space.
The sponsoring group, Save Our Constitution, reflected a wide range of faculty and political positions, from strong libertarian to fairly far left, at least as left goes in the US these days. My own presentation on the politics of the Big Lie was well received, which felt good. (The preceding post on this blog gives the text.)
But I’m not writing this post for self-congratulatory reasons. Rather, something happened I found very interesting. My panel, the final one, consisted of talks on the misuse and manipulation of language by the radical right and the Bush administration, plus a final presentation by Laura Rediehs, a philosopher, as to where to go from there. When she ended, the meeting shifted into presentations by local groups such as North Country Veterans for Peace and Amnesty International.
Laura’s talk was an interesting contrast to how I remember this issue was addressed at teach-ins I attended in the late 60s and early 70s. She started by emphasizing the necessity to get beyond our being run by the power of fear in our own lives before we could truly combat the Republican effort to destroy our institutions by spreading national division, distrust, fear and anger, a tactic used by tyrants since the ancient Greeks. She suggested meditating on fear, and even on death. Her advice is good. In my experience, even a little meditation begins to free us from being dominated by our emotions. But these words would not have been spoken in such a place during the 60s.
Her own spiritual tradition is the Society of Friends, and I think this Christian denomination has far more to offer America than the over paid and corrupt leaders of political evangelical traditions, like the Revs. Dobson and Haggard, Falwell and Robertson. More to the point, Redieh’s emphasis on personal growth and transformation would have done the 60s generation good if we could have heard and understood it. For the most part we did not hear it anmd would not have taken it seriously if we had – and I include myself here.
Yet it was during this time that the movement for a widespread shift in consciousness began, a movement that Dr. Redieh’s presentation reflected. Perhaps as the best of the 60s generation matured, they contributed to a deepening of wisdom in the next movement to try and move our society another inch or two towards that Western Civilization that Gandhi thought would be “a good idea.”
Of course the Quakers long pre-dated the 60s, and their message in this respect is universal and long standing. But this afternoon her audience was appreciative whereas a 60s audience would have been critical because she did not emphasize our immediately going out and organizing. That is what differed from then to now.
Even as the American right wing more and more reflects our country’s shadow, there is hope that our alternative vision might avoid descending into the self-righteousness and resulting authoritarianism that slowly poisoned the political dimension of the 60s.