To argue otherwise is to argue for the superiority of force or dishonesty. To reject the centrality of reason as a means for settling issues is to endorse violence and domination. It is to reject respect among equals as a principle worth honoring. Today the American Right wing deeply embodies these attitudes.
America today
America pioneered religious freedom and democratic government in part because of organized religion's weakness during the country's founding, assisted by the positive influence of the Enlightenment and the Deism it favored. Today Deism has withered and conservative Christianity has further degenerated toward embracing the irrational as a result of its many defeats when reason and science are respected. Knowing it will be defeated in honest debate, its adherents choose dishonest debate and simple assertions of power.
It is not alone. Today two dominant forces reject reason except as a tool for attaining and keeping power. Corporate and oligarchic power are as dismissive of the requirements for political freedom as is conservative religion.
The Republicans have dispensed with reasoned argument. Their presidential candidate can be quoted on every side of many issues, and his only continuing theme is that we all should give him power to solve our problems. Then trust him. In 1930s and '40s Germany this thinking was called the Führer Prinzip, propounded by a man promising to make Germany Great Again. The Republican alternative to the Führer Prinzip is theocracy.
The Democrats have not abandoned reason so completely, but too often put the interests of oligarchic wealth above all other values. Their most likely presidential candidate has a long record of making bad choices in office while serving those interests, as in 2011 when Hillary Clinton said, "It's time for the United States to start thinking of Iraq as a business opportunity." Her bad choices are rarely discussed by her advocates because for them, reason takes a back seat to their quest for power through their identification with Hillary.
By rarely discussing substantive issues, the corporate media assists this rejection of rational thinking by both parties. Today most leading "journalists" are well-paid media whores devotedly serving their corporate pimps. Creating emotional controversies is preferable to discussing genuine issues that might make their bosses uncomfortable.
Pagans should be deeply bothered by what is happening to our country. We are caught between the demons of Mammon that rule through greed and a monotheistic deity that rules through fear. At the national level, currently our wisest approach is to support whoever we believe will do the least damage. Our choices can sometimes include someone to vote for as well as those to vote against at lower levels of elected office, but not nearly often enough.
We need to reframe our thinking, asking how respect for reasoned debate and humane policies might again have a voice in this country. How might Pagan virtues regain some footing in modern America? Working locally for our favored party can help, but the problem is deeper than simple apathy.
Ranked choice voting
This November Mainers will vote on whether to replace plurality elections with elections by majority vote with ranked choices. Plurality elections give us only two parties. Today we have one largely bought by the corporate world and the other wholly owned by that world, the religious Right, and our first large scale native Fascist movement. If we vote for a third party, we effectively aid the major party we dislike most. So most of us do not vote for alternative candidates even when we prefer them.
Already successfully implemented in a number of cities, majority vote ranked choice elections enable us to rank the candidates in order of our preference. If no one gets a majority, the candidate with the fewest first choice votes is dropped and his or her supporters' second choice votes are added to the first choice votes of the remaining candidates. Eventually a majority emerges.
Requiring majority support penalizes candidates who seek to turn citizens against one another because they will get few second choice votes. It gives third parties a level playing field and forces candidates seeking at least a second choice from their voters to address their issues. Thereby a third party gains a larger chance of winning and an even bigger chance of being heard.
Mainers are considering this important change because sane candidates twice split the gubernatorial vote allowing the divisive and vicious Paul LePage to win two terms even though a clear majority deeply oppose him.
Our problems are rooted in our corporate economy and the degeneration of much American Christianity. We can hope Americans continue abandoning this kind of demonic religion and that more democratic forces come to prevail in our two parties, but a change in rules that cement their power over us regardless of how we think are needed. Ranked choice voting is the best hope for revitalizing American democracy.
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