The Audacity of Doubt

I just finished reading Senator Barack Obama's lastest book "The Audactiy of Hope," in which Mr. Obama relates stories from his first term in the U.S. Senate, as well as examines some of the most pressing problems facing America today and how we might go about taking the first steps towards viable solutions. Topics include the Iraq war, unemployment, race, education and the energy crisis, just to name a few...

I felt inclined to read the book for a variety reasons, the foremost being I believe Senator Obama will continue to be an interesting and important figure in American politics (especially now with the recent announcement of his bid for the presidency), and so getting a look into the man's mind seemed prudent. Also, I feel a lot of excitement among my peers in regards to him: I think many liberal Democrats of my generation look at Obama as a possible American messiah, somebody who can finally lead us out of the neo-conservative stranglehold that has gripped our nation since Bush took office and who will restore some semblance of stability within our borders and throughout the world. I would be dishonest if I tried to pretend that I wasn't somewhat hopeful when this guy first appeared on the scene. I'd also had a dream where a friend had approached me, holding the book out to me, asking that I read it so that we could finally engage in a discussion where I wasn't just on the listening end, intermittently saying, "Hmm...well, I honestly don't know that much about him, so I guess I should read his book."

Well...I've read the book.

I came away from it with a renewed respect and admiration for Mr. Obama. I think he's a great writer, and he's got a lot of good ideas: his chapters on "Opportunity", "Faith," "Race" and "Family" stand out in my mind as being particularly impactful. If I was going to vote, I'd vote for him.

But the final reason that I decided to read the book was because I feel myself being drawn to anarchism...if that wasn't already obvious from earlier postings. And before I made the big plunge and submerged myself into anarchist texts, I thought maybe reading the book might change my mind. Perhaps Barack Obama could convince me that government is actually a good thing. Oddly, enough, I was very fearful that my mind in fact would be changed, because after having given myself the permission to consider anarchism as a way of life and doing some preliminary readings, I was finding that I really liked it. A LOT.

The book hasn't changed my mind. It gave me doubts, for sure, but my mind remains the same. What it did, however, was make me less angry and less distrustful of the government...sorta. There are good people in the system, who really do want to make the world a better place, and though I may disagree with the way they're going about it, we all ultimately want the same thing...and they are still my brothers and sisters, loved by our Father as much as I am.

So perhaps reading the book allowed me to make some sort of peace with my siblings working through Caesar in order to effect change. Kinda like the first time you hang out with your ex after you've broken up...things are still going to be a little weird for a while, but you know that deep down, ya still love 'em.

A little more as to why I'm drifing towards anarchism...


Mr. Obama goes to great lengths to extol the virtues of American society and government. To his credit...to his ENORMOUS credit, he doesn't shy away from America's bloody track record of racism, classism, international government toppling, imperialism, etc. He throws it all out there as our "less than prouder moments." But in principle, he believes that the American government can be truly functional, altruistic and beneficial to ALL of its citizens and to people of other nations.

My issue is not so much Mr. Obama's take on what role our government should play in the future; on the contrary, if I still believed in government, I'd probably want him leading us. But it's not that I don't want him leading us. It's that I don't want ANYONE leading us. And it is here that my mystical nature begins to assert itself.

In truth, a law is only as powerful as the punishment that it promises to exact upon anyone who disobeys it as well as the frequency at which those punishments are meted out, whether it's extortion (a.k.a. "fines"), imprisonment or death. In other words, the power and LEGITMACY of a government rests soley on its ability to inflict violence on its citizens. Every law has behind it the power of the gun to back it up. People are reasoned with by use of rifles, and morality rests in the mortar shell.

Some people may have no problem with this. The world is a dangerous place after all, and it the only way to defend ourselves against violence is to use violence in return. But I begin to wonder what kind of existence we've settled for where inflicting harm on others is necessary for our survival. To be sure, Nature is a living testament to the conflict that abides in our world. Things must die so that others may live. The rabbit runs from the hawk to save its life, and the hawk chases down the rabbit for nourishment so that IT may continue to live. Both are clearly in disagreement with one another...but who should die, the rabbit or the hawk?

As I see myself as not just a man, but a son of man, and more than that, a son of God, and more than that, a manifestation of the Father-Mother itself, eternal and complete, I witness before me a world that should not be despised or feared, but should be healed and forgiven, because the outside world is a part of myself. And I see only one Authority in the Universe: Love, the Source that dwells within me, who is my very Self.

So how can I accept a position that allows for rule of law by use of force, even if that force is protecting me from some "enemy"? Perhaps I do not hold my own life in high esteem...my mortal body, perhaps. But my soul is Love, and with each passing day, I am not as afraid of dying as much as I am living a life ruled by fear.

Human beings are innately good. When left to our own devices, free to walk the earth in whatever direction we choose, I believe that we naturally come together and work toward the benefit of all, not just for purely sentimental reasons or reasons grounded solely in morality, but because we innately realize that EVERYONE benefits when EVERYONE is happy. When people become authoritative, telling us where we can and can't go, what we can and can't do and allows resources to be cut off from the majority and placed in the hands of the few, in other words, when POWER is exercised against free beings such as ourselves in order to keep us in subjection, THAT is when people become nasty and starting fighting back.

Violence begets violence. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword. It is cause and effect, which is why the "war on terror" will never end...and even if we somehow managed to wipe every terrorist off the face of the earth and lethally inject every murderer in our midst, a new "enemy" would spring up, born out of the violence that we sent out into the world, even as our violence was born out of the violence inflicted upon us. As children of God, we are in a unique position to stop the cycle from continuing, to "transcend" karma, to break ourselves free of its bonds and not given into the temptation of vengeance, but rather to meet hate with love. It was these ideas that inspired Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi, and even Jesus as he prayed for the soldiers who nailed him to the cross: "Forgive them, Father. They don't know what they're doing."

We owe it to our brothers and sisters to remember who they are, even if they don't remember it themselves. ESPECIALLY when they don't.