Some Thoughts on the New Presidency from an Alien

By Rose Diamond

I’m an English woman living for a while in America, and according to the authorities that makes me “an alien”. I have to say, I frequently feel I’ve flown in from another planet and I’m witnessing a bizarre culture, but I felt like that in my birth country too.

After England, I lived in Scotland for twenty years, and that has a culture quite distinct from England; it’s own separate legal and education system, tradition of song, poetry, music, interpretations of religion, and so on. From Scotland I moved to New Zealand where I lived for twelve years, and now I’ve been here in Virginia for the last two years. Whilst these countries are all Western and English speaking, they’re all quite different. New Zealand and America are like the yin and yang, at different poles in the personality spectrum.

Living in different cultures in this way means I’m always an “outsider” and I have to be diplomatic when making social commentary. One of the things I like about the Brits is we do social commentary very well, anyone who watched David Frost back in the ‘60’s or Monty Python, knows that the Brits love to laugh at themselves, at each other, and at their politicians. I think that’s a healthy release of tension.
Another aspect of living in different cultures, or being a “spiritual gypsy”, is it makes me trans-national. I don’t have any allegiance to any particular nation. I really do feel like a global citizen, and from that perspective I find blatant expressions of nationalism disturbing, even when they’re positive expressions.
So here I am living in America in the worst economic meltdown for 80 years, observing, suffering, rejoicing, and attempting to build community. Along with millions of others, in this country and elsewhere, I felt a huge relief and joy when Barack Obama was elected. Of course I understand the significance of him being a black man, the first black president, and that seems so hopeful for this country and for the world at this point in history, a triumph of justice. For me, the joy at his election comes because he is clearly a conscious person; he moves and acts with grace and beauty; he thinks before he speaks; he doesn’t stoop to the same ole, same ole negative politics of dirt throwing; he stands for something. He’s smart; he’s articulate; he’s inspiring. This is all very refreshing in a politician, especially a politician as central on the world stage as the American President.

I was very moved on election night and on inauguration day to see so many Americans overcome with joy at the election of their new president. To me this shows there is a real longing in oh so many people in this country, for something new, for change, for a politics with heart maybe? A politics to remake America as a more humane society.

What concerns me is the huge gap between the joy, the longing, the hero worship, on the one hand, and the stark reality of people’s lives on the other. I live near Williamsburg, and this is not a poor town by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, every day I hear reports that commerce is frozen. Nobody is spending on anything but the bare necessities. Even people who have money aren’t spending it. So there’s one level of recession created from national debt and inflation, and another level created from fear. When money isn’t circulating everyone suffers, everyone is stuck, people become more contracted. It’s a difficult time to be living through. I hear every day of more people losing their homes, not in this area, but elsewhere. Where is the humanity in a society that turns people out of their homes? Isn’t having a home and the wherewithal to keep it running, a basic foundation for any humane society? Isn’t accessible healthcare for everyone another basic of a humane society? How have we, with all our technological prowess, creativity and invention, got so far from what really matters?

I see a huge and deep longing for change in so many of the American people but I don’t know how many people really know how to manifest positive change. Days after the Obamas moved into the Whitehouse I read in the alternative press lots of bitching and moaning about the new president: “Well, he’s been in office for five days and he hasn’t changed the world yet, he can’t be any good, he’s just gonna be another big disappointment like all the rest.” Come on guys! How about taking a bit of responsibility for the change you want to see?

I was at a Martin Luther King breakfast on Monday, and black community activist, Mrs Bobbye Alexander, stood at the end and said, “If Obama fails, it’s because each one of us has failed.” The time is well past for believing that any one hero is going to make it right; we’re moving from the age where we put authority outside ourselves and either hero worship that authority or crucify it. And we’re moving into a time when we realize the authority is in each one of us. If there has to be a hero then you’re it, and I’m it too. If we want positive change then we have to be the change and create the change, and join with others who want it too. We have to change our thinking and learn new skills. If there’s going to be any evolution in this country, it’s going to come from the people, and from each person making the commitment to raise his or her consciousness, and to live from that higher state of consciousness on a daily basis. When enough people raise their consciousness, the politicians have to follow suit. Obama knows that. Fear is the biggest barrier to higher consciousness; it’s the way people have always been controlled. Feeling disempowered and handing over your authority to a hero or an anti-hero, is an expression of fear, or not knowing what else to do.

Living at this time requires a big courage. It’s the courage to stay awake and be clear eyed. It’s the courage to hold the vision, the longing, the dream in one hand, and at the same time not flinch from reality, not avoid or deny the suffering which is caused by the present deprivation. We need people to keep the hope alive. Obama is such a person.

I have no idea what kind of politician he’ll turn out to be, or how much he’ll be able to restore from the former president’s legacy of ruination and constitution breaking. But I do see him as a new kind of politician: a conscious politician, a bridge builder, a man who listens and wants to hear all sides, someone who has understood the new paradigm of unity we are moving in to. None of this is easy. I would venture to say that the individual work of restoring our own consciousness to a clear, peaceful, creative state is almost as heroic as being a President. We all have our unique contribution to make. We are each responsible for the collective good. There is an enormous amount of work to be done. This is no time for bitching, moaning, complacency, or passing the buck. The time is now, and we are the people. The opportunity for real radical change to a more humane, united society and world, won’t ever come again in this way.