Of the Billionaires

By the Billionaires, For the Billionaires.

A cartoon

A thought

What a head spinning 24 hours. L’il Bean sends you all a hug and reminds you to ground yourself with some ordinary beauty - time in nature is definitely recommended.

I’ve taken a few hours out of my schedule to write, to help me sense make - where to from here? My thoughts and feelings are still a work in progress but I have appreciated reading others on Substack, communally unpacking this together, so I offer this in the hope it can be of some small help somewhere.

You can probably guess that if I were in the US, I would have voted Harris, with some major Gaza-shaped reservations. In my mind, the Harris ticket represented a continued slow draw out of the status quo. I felt that would have given some guise of stability and the space to push for more incremental change. To my mind, definitely preferable to warlord capitalism and the chaos of “Drill Baby Drill!”

It seems a significant proportion of Americans disagreed with me and voted for a big shakeup, so I have to meet this with curiosity. Where are you, how are you feeling that Trump looks like the hopeful option?

I suspect despair and powerlessness might have something to do with it. A decades-long erosion of the futures of ordinary people. While capitalism quietly funnels ever more wealth out of the system to the billionaire puppet masters. Seriously, Elon, WTF.

Over the last few years, my faith in politics as an effective tool has waned, the final straw (other than the last 24 hours) being the last “climate” election in Australia where on a swirl of hope, we put in a leftish government with a teal wave of independents hell-bent on holding major parties to account on climate action. We know how that is working out - 7 new coal mines or expansions since May 2022, with 1,513 million tonnes of lifetime emissions and 25 additional projects in the pipeline.

I feel like politics has truly become the Theatre Department for the 0.1%. Their job - to keep us entertained, divided and outraged while the puppet masters get on with the business of making money.

From the outside looking in, this election seems to be about class, where those that are really hurting and feeling ignored are willing to brush aside identity politics and grasp any proffered hope of a return to better days.

In my mind, it is a crystal clear victory for billionaires. As the Turkish proverb says: “The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them”.

So, sigh, where to from here?

I am bracing for the blame games and the detailed autopsy, but I think that is missing the larger picture - this system no longer serves us, and we need to take responsibility for imagining and building an alternative.

The polarisation and extremism of the left and the right is scary. Without community and conversation, politics is more than useless - it just stokes the fires.

The elephant in the room is that WE ARE ALL AFRAID and most of us don’t know what to do with our uncomfortable feelings. The only constant now is change and change is always bloody hard. In that fear, we feel driven to defend our own interests at the expense of others, a dangerous evolution of an extremely individualistic culture.

Your enemy is not the black man who voted for Trump nor the trans person at your office nor the migrant worker. All our enemy is the revoltingly rich ruling class and the systems that prop them up.

It is clear our agency at the big table is non-existent. Instead, we should turn to the kitchen table, to our neighbours and workplaces, to the people and the more than human world we share space with. We need bottom-up social revival - less time yelling at each other across social media and more time in the real world, building things - small local things. There are no heroes that will save us, we must save ourselves and those we love by collaborating within the spheres of our agency, building a participatory culture that moves us towards a more beautiful future. Morality in politics is an oxymoron but morality and values are still alive between you and me, at the kitchen table. Perhaps this election result is the rough awakening we need to force us all into action, the blinkers have been rudely snatched away.

Take care of yourself today, and those that you love. Take time to grieve, mourn and rage but beyond that, there is meaningful work to be done. A more local, simpler, more beautiful future is still possible and it is up to us.

So many good people are worn down, burnt out, fighting and protesting, crisis after crisis. Grace Lee Boggs the indomitable social activist of Detroit fame counsels us to go beyond “protest organizing” to “visionary organizing” and that “begins by creating images and stories of the future that help us imagine and create alternatives to the existing system”.

Now is a time for radicalism, a radical love and trust in our fellow human, a radical faith that better things are possible, a radical creativity to imagine better ways and radical bravery to step up and speak out.

Hope and agency are linked to action, action can be small and beautiful and kind and we can start today. What can you help build?

My shell-shocked friend shared a beautiful poem with me today, let us carry this energy forward:

You can hear Rebecca read the poem here:

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/a-post-election-day-poem/

Glimmers and sparks*

My glimmers for today are:

• Watching swarms of tiny birds flit about outside the window while I cried at the news.

• Laughing about farting at an inappropriate moment.

• Knowing that while many voted for Trump, many millions did not.

Li’l bean is your reminder to pause and ask: What are your glimmers for today?

From your friend and your small, steadfast companion,

*Drawing Li’l Bean helped me navigate out of a period of depression in 2023. A good friend 13, 595km away, helped, too, through a ritual of swapping daily glimmers via text.

A glimmer is a tiny spark of hope, enthusiasm or joy that lifts your heart. By helping me find three glimmers each day, she gently helped me see the joy and beauty already around me.

I’d like to share this practice with you and invite you to reflect on your glimmers for the day when you read this. Think of Li’l Bean as a reminder to notice the glimmers and sparks in your life. We’d love it if you would like to share your glimmers in the comments or by hitting reply (if you don’t like sharing publicly).