Hillary Clinton: ‘When I Was A Child, Most Special Interest Groups Wouldn’t Even Consider Donating Large Sums Of Money To A Woman’ - The Onion

“It’s hard to fathom now, but back when I was growing up in the 1950s, Wall Street banks, major law firms, and every other special interest out there wouldn’t let a woman through the door, let alone funnel inordinate sums of money into her campaign as a means to advance their agendas,” said Clinton, adding that she personally had to work twice as hard as her male colleagues for decades just to be deemed qualified as a viable political conduit for hundreds of millions of dollars controlled by wealthy corporations and narrowly focused institutions.

Clinton then assured the cheering crowd that while she might be the first female presidential nominee of a major political party beholden to well-heeled influence peddlers, she would certainly not be the last.

Trump's Quasi-Mystical Appeal - Elijah Siegler

Throughout history, illusionists appear to have often developed into chiefs and kings because of their ability to deceive and manipulate the masses.  They were able to gain followers by playing on people's superstitions.

What is Donald Trump? Is he a prosperity gospel preacher? A Platonic tyrant?

To delve into this question, religion-oriented analysis can be useful.  After all, politics isn't just about policy.  It's about identity, community, meaning, and belief.

Trump has powered his campaign by playing on the fears of sinister threats. He has backed anti-vaxxers and engaged in nativist fantasies  Trump's most popular policies are based on fears of contagion; defined as "the communication of disease by direct or indirect contact."

To many in Trump's base, drummed-up fears of people that are deemed to be "other" have been extremely powerful motivating factors, in part accounting for the maintenance of their support of Trump and approval of his policies. His rhetoric both creates and ratchets up anxiety and fear on a daily basis. In the human brain, these visceral emotions, when continually stoked, bypass reason and logic altogether.

James Frazer, a Scottish anthropologist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, analyzed anthropological and classical literature to speculate on the origin of magic and religion.  According to Frazer, throughout history illusionists appear to have often developed into chiefs and kings because of their ability to deceive and manipulate the masses.

In The Golden Bough, he wrote that the best of them "perceive how easy it is to dupe their weaker brother and to play on his superstition for their own advantage." They were often sincerely convinced that they "really possessed those wonderful powers which the credulity of his fellows ascribes to (them)."

The savviest illusionist-king, in other words, tells the people what they want to hear, and truly believes that he is the best, the greatest, fantastic, unbelievable.

Frazer argued that society should be wary of these political illusionists, because they subvert democracy. They shift "the balance of power from the many to the one."

The full article is available here

Interdependence Days - Bryan Berghoef at Shalem Institute

Independence has its place, to be sure. But perhaps what needs remembering and cultivating, what really ought to be celebrated each and every day—is our deep and sacred interdependence—with one another, with the Earth, and with all living things.

Independence. It is a wonderful thing to be free of that which holds you back, presses you down, or even oppresses you. We are heading into a weekend in the U.S. in which parades, flags, fireworks and barbecues will all signal a corporate celebration of being free, of independence. A wonderful thing.

Yet in the wake of the recent vote for independence in Britain, the famous Brexit, we realize that there are limits to how good independence can be. We remember that underneath it all, there is a very real and essential interdependence. Human beings were not made to exist in isolation.

Even collections of human beings are not really able to live in true independence. There is always an impact from the other, a necessary global interconnection, in which trade from one nation helps another, travel in and through a region impacts a local economy, or in which pollution or carbon usage affects the global whole.

Independence has its place, to be sure. But perhaps what needs remembering and cultivating, what really ought to be celebrated each and every day—is our deep and sacred interdependence—with one another, with the Earth, and with all living things.

The full article is available here