With alcoholism in my family, I grew up around the 12-step program, and have volunteered for an addiction hotline. All along I have seen clear "isms" in Bush's behavior. His weaknesses are typical of an alcoholic NOT in recovery. He is not unique. However, this puts the rest of us in the untenable position of dealing with someone incapable of taking responsibility for his actions (and inaction).
So, why not develop a "12 Step Agenda (Program) for American Recovery"?
If we took each of the 12 steps and examined them, we could come up with an effective Democratic strategy to help America recover from years of republican and Bush neglect, abuse, and violence.
Think about it. We've been on a binge--oil, profits, consumerism, me, me, and me. And like every good binge, you end up in the tank or out of it. On or off the wagon. Or something happens--usually pretty nasty-- and you're forced to deal with it, not just think about it.
Then here is a diary that presents some ideas, and asks you to add your own to the "recovery agenda"....if there is enough interest I will compile it all in one diary.
One of the 12 steps is an apology for how you have failed others and yourself--something all of us know instinctively Bush will never do. But remember the power of Richard Clarke's testimony, when the first thing he did was apologize to the victims for the government's failings. We could turn this into a single powerful set of images and statements that convey a new America-- that pledges real recovery from the loss of every job in America, the jobs that are not there, the security you do not feel, for lives lost and destroyed because of wayward Republican fiscal, economic, social, international and military policies, for the destruction of the environment that has occurred on all of our watch (yes, the Dems must admit this too), for jeopardizing our children's future...'
The 12 Steps and Some Initial Ideas
This is just paraphrased from a large number of 12 step programs. I'll put some ideas up here based on my limited observations, and then lay out some potential counter-points in Step 8, where they belong. I admit in advance an energy/environment/water bias, horrified by Katrina, so I will use those as examples of where a 12-step program may be needed.
1. Admit you are powerless over your addiction, aka, your life (addiction) is out of control--you do not have the power to control what is happening around you. Some applications--oil dependency; stimulation; war; `power over' another, inability to get out of situations (Iraq, budget deficit), inability to protect your people.
What are the difficulties/symptoms that arise during this first phase? Denial. Anger. Illusion. Disconnection. Hmm. Sound familiar?
We can easily populate the ways in which the choices of our policy makers have resulted in "mass lives out of control", and, an "America out of control". Do most Americans feel like they have control over their lives? Don't forget to ask those people in New Orleans. Is Iraq under control? How about the economy? How do you feel about the future?
2. _ Come to believe that a power higher than ourselves can restore us to sanity_ aka: "right relation to God". Of course the republicans have forgotten all that America was founded on and to get away from--religious freedom and the tyranny of King George (can this `coincidence' be any clearer?). Now they think they own religion and openly scoff at others and of course, bomb Muslims and inflict pain on the poor and people of color.
A power higher than us is not owned by any one person or party, let alone a selfish man like Bush who has so much undeserved power over so many. And there are many paths to faith, as recognized by the Founding Fathers. There are universal truths in every faith that speak of our relationships with each other, all living things, the earth, our elders, the sick, the poor. Native religions speak a lot about our relationship with the environment, and listen when told what to do about how to live on the land. At least until that power was taken away by the U.S. because it did not acknowledge the validity of this faith, this world view, even as it "founded" America based on religious freedom.
- Made a decision to turn ourselves over to that higher power. In my view, this is turning to our highest selves, those humanitarian values, those universal truths of our own faith, however defined, that speak to our hearts and inspire our minds and bodies to action. This is to be inspired by something other than greed, money, power, fame, position, title, or future prospects. To be inspired by a higher calling that is real democracy, for example, not this cheap-shit sell job on "democracy by bombs, voter fraud, the so-called patriot act, and neglect".
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. All the crap has to be up on the table, and I don't think we will have much trouble populating this list. To the extent that we have co-created the mess we are in right now, we have an obligation to call out that stuff that is not true to humanitarian values, and that may not be pretty as we pull back the curtain, like the Wizard of Oz, and find out that "its" one of our own.
We've got examples up the you-know-what: Lieberman jumping at the chance to investigate Brown when he praised him and helped install him. Check. Proudly supported Bush's lies on Iraq, called DSM `old news'. Check. And the DNC: currying favor with corporate America, just like the Republicans. Check. IMHO, given a choice between a Republican and a Republican, a Republican will win every time.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. This is the apology piece spoken of in the initial diary that inspired this one. We've got to deflate ego, our supposed "control over nature", learn humility, receive forgiveness and give it. A fearless inventory means connecting all the dots...poverty, race, injustice, exploitation, greed, waste, fraud, lies, the budget, Iraq, the media. The school of hard knocks.
Heard of "peak oil'? We took all the oil and saved none for future generations. What will they think of us and our squandering ways?
How do you apologize for the wrong done to the environment, the fish, the air, the trees, the ocean, the land? You create a restoration plan for it all and direct resources there. Not create a literal smoke screen known as Clean Skies....
6. Be willing and ready to have this higher power remove these defects. Why we must keep trying, why delay is dangerous and may be fatal. There has to be a point where we abandon our limited objectives for the sake of humanity, our children, and future generations. Doesn't our Constitution demand this?
This is the true meaning of sacrifice. If we're going to deal with energy, we really have to prepare to sacrifice and work hard to make the transition. So, one of those questions is nuclear power. If we choose that (with emphasis on WE), we must pay more to remove those defects that made the uranium industry (cradle to grave) so dangerous.
At what point do we move on, yet be honest about what we know and not bury the sacrifice required?
7. Humbly ask this power to remove our shortcomings. Learning humility....which is primarily the need learn from our own and others' mistakes. Understanding our weaknesses will lead us to understand our strengths.
One example of the failure of Bush to learn humility is the refusal to accept foreign aid to our country when that could have saved lives in New Orleans. He gambled with our lives and we lost. And "staying the course" in Iraq because he wants to "play cowboy and walk around like he's a bad ass when he's just an ass."
8. Made of list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. This is where our agenda comes in now. We acknowledge who has been harmed in America and reach out, and we create a plan that meaningfully addresses those harms. I am serious, people. We need people in government who are serious about public service, not feeding at the public trough. Yes, it's a long haul. But we must transform or die.
Many on this blog have talked about needing something akin to Gingrich's "Contract with America". Personally I have always thought it was a contract on America. What we really need is an Agenda for the Restoration of America--like our reputation abroad, our trust in government, our ability to take care of our own, our democracy--which is in tatters like all those American flags waving from people stranded on roofs in New Orleans. That our government refused to help for days.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. An Agenda for Restoration would do that, making amends, shifting budget and policy priorities. Think of all the ways in which you would do that.
Can we make amends to Iraqi's? Certainly not by "staying the course" which has put them in greater jeopardy. Staying there could just do them more harm. Think about the depleted uranium. How many more of our soldiers and Iraqi people are going to die before we wake up?
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. After one of the most serious disasters in our country's history, Bush continues to shift blame as if this is game. Can you tell what step he is on?
I always liked the idea of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as used in South Africa, and all the mechanisms that call for re-evaluation. But we should have on-going accountability and not weaken those functions at any level. And maybe restore local and national accountability sooner than years after the incident or not at all.
11.Sought continuously to improve our conscious understanding of God as we know him, praying for the knowledge and power to carry out that larger will. Maintaining our ability to reflect, understand, and know what is going on requires much work individually, and also requires an honest media. I was going to put politicians in there but that would have been an oxymoron combined with "honest". This is also a part of having the humility to learn and accept advice from others. This is not about pride.
Think about George Bush here. He bragged that he didn't need AA to get out of alcohol. Well, that is the equivalent of being shown this list and skipping all the steps to this one, number 11. And because he failed to understand his ego, denial, fallacies, fantasies, lies, torture, selfishness, privilege, all these things and more, he invented what he thought God said to him (invade Iraq), made up a bunch of human lies, and opened the gates of hell.
12. Having awakened, finally, carry this message to others and practice these principles in our everyday affairs. Once you see this and awaken to how your behavior is, you can act. Mindfully. How does government practice this mindfulness? With help of course, from an informed public.
The End, and the Beginning?
Well, if you've made it this far, my greatest thanks. Whether 12 step applies or not to you individually, it does offer a framework if applied in larger sense to see the behavior of GWB and his enablers. We are in deep trouble, and we do need to restore our faith in each other and our country. And moving forward is the only way to do that.
If you like, you are invited to add your inventories, ideas, your suggestions for a restoring America. And if it's too much to put here, well then, just live it!
