I did not plan on writing about this this week. In fact, all the way up to sitting at my computer Monday morning, I had no intention of writing about anything society/politics-related. But that's how life works - it comes at you sometimes with all the sensitivity of a bulldozer, and we ourselves & our lives are defined by how we react and engage with it. So, my writing (and my content calendar) must & will adjust to the current state of play - because the social & political board has been reset in a very short amount of time.
I am always fascinated by the value-gap between greatness and “the small folk”, the common man versus the sculptures of history, the names we have to memorize in school, attempting to craft the narrative of time in their own image. Now, there is not actually a difference between one man and another - all men are born screaming and defecating just like any other man (what's that line from Le Miserable? “all men are the same with their pants off”?); but a difference does present itself by how we live our lives. This is where the line between leaders and the common man ceases to be a chasm and instead becomes a line in the sand, easily overcome by those who look at it differently - in some respects, simply an illusion. The nature of a democratic world, where the principles of the Enlightenment on the equality of man and basic human rights reign supreme, is that the common man does actually dictate the state of play - the only difficulty is how to shape the unwieldy opinions of millions of people into a cohesive voice.
But, as the flow of time shows us, millions of opinions do become a sort of cohesive voice - often manifesting in unpredictable ways. The small folk have struck a decisive blow in the last 2 weeks, and it isn’t the shot fired anyone expected or predicted - and in many ways, we’re only getting started. Recently in France voters elected an unremarkable, but fit to purpose center-left party into office (after the far-right radical party was leading for months in the polls); in the UK a recently-reformed Liberal party is now in power speaking for strength, decency and centrist, Britain-first policies (after decades of radical anti-Britain policies); and in America the leading Liberal political party is (justifiably) mutinying, and a card-carrying-Conservative caucasian gen-Z man attempted to exercise his rights and put a bullet in the brain of the conservative Republican party’s radical icon. Change is in the air and, let’s be honest, all of these developments came as a bit of a shock. In America we all have been collectively waiting for the grim reaper to come for one or both of our geriatric candidates, both in their 80s with notoriously bad health; not for an assassination attempt from within their own political base. In a sense, these developments are the eloquent result of years of political strife, stoking the flames of resentment, and the social fed-up-ness with noisy performance, in-fighting & national decay.
I am personally not not the kind of person to get passionate about any particular person, party, or cultural movement. I am far more interested in what people do, and the collective actions of people through time and how they interact and influence each other - in short I have a very long view of current events as well as public figures. I show support for people that actually prove to operate on a level that will reflect well in the grand scheme of human events, and I despise low-ball manipulation and pandering to people's worst instincts - and we do live in noisy times. In many regards, I acknowledge I am a bit of a cultural unicorn - I am a centrist to use our modern democratic terminology, and despise radicalization, and I will not be moved from that position. I expect civility and decency from the people I lend my vote to, and I consider the wellbeing of the collective paramount to any faction in my thinking towards policies. However, as latest events might show us, I might not be such a unicorn after all.
When I was growing up, they used to say that only “centrists” got elected or ended up in leadership - a logical conclusion, considering that the middle of any extreme likely offended the least amount of people. But as we entered the financial minefield and terror of the 2000s, many people found themselves feeling betrayed by centrist, “everyone’s a little bit right” thinking - calling up a primal craving for conflict and extremes, isolationism and exhibitionism at the same time. But now after a decade of extremism, you can just barely feel the winds changing - and it makes my heart glad to feel it. The wind change that blew through Europe the last few weeks was not fractious and noisy, but a quiet return to decency, civility, and national stewardship - a call not for national strife, but national healing and peace. This change is not yet reflected in our polarized leadership, oh no, they still rave and rail; more importantly, this change is coming from us - the small folk have, just maybe, had enough of war.
The people are collectively smarter and stronger together, than any one political faction will ever give them credit for. This collective voice, vox populi, sometimes begins as a whisper, growing into a resounding call that will define the times. Most of us alive, and voting, today have lived far more peaceful lives than most generations that came before. We know the value, and prosperity of peace; and we are done acting out unending conflict within our own communities and, in some cases, homes. In both war and hard times, it is the common man who suffers most - and today's wars of ideology are no different. But we have a voice, and a vote, and our own minds; we can choose which way the wind will blow and how harshly. We set the board; and the political leaders, they are only players.
Leave it to me to find the bright spot in our, seemingly, black times. Though things like assassination, election, totalitarianism, egomania, and autocracy are deadly serious; I do not think over-analyzing any of those components tells the full story of our times. This is because no time is without HOPE; and I’d prefer to go in search of it myself in the wild, rather than have it packaged and sold to me as propaganda. You have to listen carefully if you want to find it; in the store isles, break rooms, school pick-up lines, group chats and kitchen tables, the everyday lives of normal people - this is where change starts, where the air begins to move in the direction it will blow. The strongest voice usually is the one not shouting, but growing in silence. Only time will tell, but I have my hopes. The common man has reset the board, and the political players must now accept a new state of play.