Political Discouragement

by Selene Vega

Our past two meetings have been dominated by our reactions to the November (1994) elections. Some of us had worked hard to pass an initiative that failed by a wide margin. Others had just hoped that our votes would be matched by others with our values. All of us were horrified by anecdotes we had heard about the consequences of Proposition 187 passing. Incidents of racism have been spurred on by what some interpreted as government support for discrimination, and deaths have resulted from peoples' fear that using medical services would mean expulsion from the country. In general, individuals in our group expressed a sense of deep disappointment and discouragement about the direction our country seems to be moving in.

A familiar theme in our meetings is our need to do more towards shifting events in our world than we can do as therapists helping our clients to heal one at a time. In the aftermath of the election, there seems to be a sense of just how limited is our sphere of influence. Perhaps the slow, quiet work we do to empower the clients we work with and the people we interact with is all we can do. As one member put it, he's always tried to act locally and think globally. He can still act locally, but it is much harder after this election to think globally, as he has lost the faith that he can truly affect the global situation.

A few days after the election, Ram Dass was in Santa Cruz for a benefit event. He was asked about this very issue: How can we stay spiritually detached and see the world's perfection in the results of this election? How can we keep from getting depressed about the political situation? Ram Dass summed up the question very simply, saying something like "You mean you're worried about Jesse Helms as head of foreign affairs?" He made it clear that detachment and denial are very different - we need to be able to talk about the situation without getting dragged down into a pit of discouragement. Depression will not help us to take the actions we believe can help the suffering in the world. We need to maintain equanimity and continue to work for change. This is quite a contrast to those who close themselves off to the information about what's going on in order to avoid their emotional reaction. Detachment is not the same as oblivion.

What can we do to maintain our engagement with the world without getting dragged down by what we see? One thing that seemed clear to us is that isolation breeds a sense of powerlessness, and when we fall into that, we are lost. Coming together to share our thoughts and reactions and struggles is a huge step towards regaining our power. Just knowing that there are others who share our ideas and beliefs is a start, but bringing our voices and spirits together can revive our commitment to continue to work towards the future we would like to see.

One person spoke of the letter he had been composing to President Clinton, encouraging him to stand up for his beliefs and not compromise himself. As our group talked about what we need to do, we realized that this is what we need to encourage ourselves to do as well - stand up for our beliefs, not silence our beliefs because we are in the minority. "We are Ghandi," one of us said.

Another trap we can try to avoid is the "us and them" view of the situation. It helps to remember that everyone involved, even those with political ideas that we may find horrifying, developed those ideas within their own personal history, impacted by their family and culture. They are trying to get their needs met as best they know how. Just as with our clients, their best attempts to meet their needs may not be the most effective. They may even create situations that make things worse. As therapists, we can use our knowledge of human behavior to try to understand why people hold the views that they hold, why people feel so unempowered that they don't vote, etc. If we can hold this perspective, search for commonalities and avoid demonizing the opposition, perhaps there is still some room for hope. It is worth trying, and certainly less depressing than giving up.