Serious Sunday: Politics?

Three things you should NEVER discuss in polite company: sex, religion and politics.

Well, anyone who has spent more than five minutes with me knows that I not only write about HOT sex, I talk about…constantly. And the more uptight and prudish someone is the more and louder I talk. I take great joy in shocking and pushing people out of their comfort zones. Hell, even among erotic writers, I’d shock. Well maybe not shock, but I’d be a ring leader and get us all into trouble.

And religion? Well, I am not quite so bad with this one. But I also do not hide the fact that I am polytheistic. That I believe there is some truth to be found in most of man’s religions and gods. I even kinda have thinking of god, Odin, Zeus, Buddha, Mohammed and the others having a intergalactic kegger in Heaven, Asgard or Olympus, betting and laughing about the stupid shit that man does. Or maybe they do it all from their spaceship on the far side of the moon?

All I know is that I don’t REALLY KNOW anything. But the only one I choose to call my own is the goddess of love and her asshole husband/Master Fate. And yes, I do believe that there is a bit of god/goddess in all of us.

But politics? I have steadfastly refused to come out on this issue. Until I found myself getting pulled into it this week on Facebook. First on the issue of socialized medicine, which some of my American friends, whom I love and respect, were falling for the rhetoric without understanding the reality. So I ended up setting them straight about just what it is like to live in a country with ‘free’ healthcare.

Then it was another of my supposed Brit friends once more making fun of my country and its politics. I know America ain’t perfect, but I get so f’ing tired of posh, upper-middle class Brits with their benevolent paternalism thinking they are so much better…when they are even worse with their silent racism and CLASSISM. England has the lowest social mobility in all of Europe, worse even than many Third World countries. So as the bible says, take the log out of your own eye, before worrying about the splinter in mine.

That prompted a response from a casual writing friend thanking me for the well-thought -out response on socialized medicine and the back-handed compliment/complaint about thinking I was a far-left liberal. That has prompted me to come out of the closet.

I am in fact…a Transcendentalist!

A what?

Transcendentalism  was a primarily American philosophical and literary movement of the early 19th century. And while many of you may be unfamiliar with that usage of the word (thinking instead of free-love, hippie gurus and meditation), most of you will recognize these famous Transcendentalist: Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Walt Whitman and even Emily Dickens. Pretty esteemed company for the little erotica writer?

But that still does not tell you what it is that I believe…though once I do I am sure that most of you will see clear hints of my beliefs in everything I write…even nasty naughty Ægir’s…

Central to my  Transcendental views is:

Individualism – A core belief was in the inherent goodness of both people and nature. Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual. They had faith that people are at their best when truly “self-reliant” and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed. (Wiki)

Now think about my writings…

• You never see the VA saving anyone in Sergeant Mike’s Miracle Tour…they rely upon and save one another.
• It is not military or war that is ever the focus of my works…but the honor, commitment and sense of community among the men, women and families who serve.
• The disconnect and futility of modern society with its antiquated morals, strictures and focus upon owning/possessing and greed/hubris is often directly contrasted against more back to basic living (Ægir’s).
• The destruction of modern society itself (yes, survivalist tendencies) are common in Fall of Man and especially the Apocalypse series.
• And yes through it all is very much that core belief in the goodness of man (Woman) and nature.

Of course, my work diverges from other Transcendentalists in its frank focus upon the power of sexuality…and its cussing too. Because I am a reflection of my times, just as they were of theirs. In many ways, I am their epitome…those things are part of my body of works because of their work that paved the way for abolitionists, feminists and the sexual revolution. Transcendentalists were the fathers and mothers of FREE-thinking after all.

So to answer your question…I do not participate in either the religious or political processes that I believe corrupts. Instead I advocate a doctrine of PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. If the far right says…me, me, ME and you are not my problem. And the left says, it is the responsibility of government to even the playing field. I believe…

I am RESPONSIBLE for me and mine…and YOU too. Not because anyone makes me, but because it is the RIGHT thing to do. And that is community!

Of course, living in the modern world like Henry David Thoreau, I find this ideal virtually impossible to execute. But it is what I strive for…why I keep writing…well, along with spread my weird beliefs like the plague.

And one day, I hope and have faith that PanKwake and I will find our On Walden Pond. For now though, that is inside of my mind and writing more than a place. I honestly do not even know where that ‘place’ may be.

My dream is an RV/camper van that travels (something that the original Transcendentalist were actually against by the way). There are so many friends around this world that I want to meet. Souls that share at least a tiny bit of the light that shines in all of us. And maybe as we travel we will discover that place…though my suspicion is that it is not a ‘where’ but a ‘whom’.

Because another way in which I differ from those original Transcendentalist is that I am far more REALIST than idealist. I know that there is no perfect place (country), no ‘golden age’, no omniscient/omnipotent god, no perfect man/woman.

There are just good people trying to do the best they can with what they have. And when left alone by systems, religion and politics…that is more than good enough.

So, no, I am not conservative or liberal. Left or right. Democrat, Republican, Tory, Green, or any other label. I am not a Christian, Buddhist, or even pagan.

I am Wo-man. And that is all that is important!