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TFish's avatar

I posted this to Sage’s stack a while ago, but I think it contains much of my sentiments.

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RFK Jr. comes from political pedigree, so I think it’s part of his lens, his programming, if you will. Not in a nefarious sense, but must be acknowledged as a fundamental aspect of how he sees the world. He is, no doubt, cognizant of the failings and limitations of the system (having observed the fates of his father and uncle), but there’s a deep seat of hope in him. A hope that believes that change is possible.

I am much more pessimistic. Not about humanity, so much as the potential to redirect a deeply deeply compromised apparatus. And that’s what it is—an apparatus. Eventually, hopefully soonish, people will realize that this scaffold is fundamentally broken. Patching and splinting it, hacking it, is not only unrealistic, but ignores the reality of the depth of the brokenness. The mechanisms of control are too deeply seated, the layers and counter layers set to disarm the motives for change have subsumed any potential for ‘reform’.

The kind of changes a significant segment of the population yearns for exists outside the apparatus. Manifesting this doesn’t require the apparatus because it comes from the human soul. People just don’t believe in it, really believe in it.

The greatest trick politics plays is making one believe that possibilities only exist within the apparatus. That’s the frame. That’s the lens they want everyone to see the world through—because that’s where they control all the levers.

All of that said, RFK Jr is important because he manifests a courage that feeds the imagination. And until such time that the public is ready to let go of the apparatus, it will continue to frame (and limit) our imagination.

In the end, I think it will not matter if he chooses a blue, red, or other colored coat to wear. As ever, the apparatus will not let such an individual step up to the levers of power. Looking forward, his contribution may end up being that of a beacon—to ignite conversation, dialogue, and spark courage and imagination. But likely a beacon only, an unrealized dream.

All that said, in light of what appears to be an emptying hourglass, I fear time is not with us, and political change is much too slow to grapple with the rapacious beasts that are already culling.

Not wanting to be overly doom-oriented and in the interest of optimism:

Perhaps, just maybe, a beacon could serve to awaken belief in the necessity of imagining a different path, particularly for those who still cling to the apparatus like a psychic life preserver. Perhaps it could be the thing which draws just enough to achieve a true tipping point.

It’s not a terrible thing to hold out hope.

It is challenging to look at elections as any kind of meaningful action given what we know. Simultaneously, it is meaningful for many, and that makes the symbolism likely more important than the outcome.

That’s a pickle for critical thinkers and people who have delved and devoted serious thought into the workings of the machine.

One thing this whole journey has taught, I think, is how important belief truly is for everyone. There’s a deep yearning for finding good in our actions and choices. I think this has played, and continues to play, a significant part in the early embrace of the shots and propaganda.

Elections are very similar in many respects. There is the hero seeking aspect, no doubt. But there is also something else—it’s a yearning for hope, the potential for something better.

The challenge will be realizing that the hope doesn’t lie in the mechanisms of the apparatus, but within our collective selves.

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kitten seeking answers's avatar

he rubs elbows with All the ‘Elites’… venturing a guess he’s more ‘them’ than ‘us’… the whole system is rigged to the max… we don’t vote, we pretend to vote.

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