A Progressive Third Party

[Edward theurj Berge]

With the realization that Sanders will probably not win the Democratic Party nomination, and that said establishment Party is corrupt beyond repair, there has been a spate of internet articles on what to do with the Sanders campaign machine. One option I hear frequently is to take all that momentum and organization and form a progressive third party, one that challenges both the establishment Democratic and Republican Parties. We've come to realize that the Democratic Party is too far gone to the dark side of corporate cronyism never to return to its own progressive roots. In the posts that follow I'll provide my jeremiad on this.

[Edward theurj Berge]

See this conversation with Tim Winton and Lauren Tenney. Around 32:40 they discuss how Trump could be considered a new shaman due to the manipulation of archetypal symbolism, albeit unconsciously and for debased purposes. So Clinton could also use this with conscious intent, which it seems the DNC convention did a good job of, creating the nurturing parents and community together archetypes in distinction from the self-serving tyrant.

It seems the discussion also has the same archetypes, in that we as conscious, autonomous individuals work together via higher purpose like a school of fish. It is akin to the dynamic we've explored in the peer to peer collaborative commons, and what Joe Corbett calls libertarian eco-socialism.

[Edward theurj Berge]

An excerpt from this article, the section on "the secret to fighting Trump":

"Although he may not have sought the fight with Trump, Khan has proven to be one of the most effective critics of the man who steamrollered his GOP rivals and emerged from his party's convention with a momentary lead in some polls. Trump's usual methods, so effective when used against lifelong politicians, failed to dispatch a man who criticized him, not on political grounds but on the basis of values and morality.


"In his DNC speech, Khan didn't descend to Trump's level by calling him crazy, nor did he challenge him as a businessman. To do so would have been to engage his opponent on his own ground. Instead Khan questioned whether Trump had ever read the foundational document of American democracy, the Constitution, and offered to lend him his copy, which he took out of his pocket and held in the air.

"On Sunday Khan went a step further, saying that Trump has a 'black soul,' lacked a 'moral compass' and does not have the 'empathy' required to lead. He also said he hoped that Trump's family would 'teach him some empathy.' When he appealed to Trump's family to teach him some empathy, Khan demonstrated that he could recognize his antagonist's humanity and as he did so, he revealed Trump's real deficiency. The man isn't irrational, or insane, but he is trapped in his own drive to prevail by dominating others."

[Edward theurj Berge]

See Robert Reich's piece here. He is sure that the Democratic Party if beyond repair due to big money and that "we’re going to need a third party, or a third force, to pressure the Democratic Party to do what’s right by America." He has also said elsewhere that while we do need to create this other party or force we still need to vote Democratic in the next election.

[DavidM58]

Yes, I listened to the Winton/Tenney conversation last night.  Quite interesting.  Scott Preston has been writing for a while now about Trump as a manifestation of what Gebser refers to as deficient magical structure in our post-truth society where technocratic shamanism (Algis McKinus) is on the rise.

https://longsworde.wordpress.com/?s=Trump

Edwyrd theurj Burj said:

See this conversation with Tim Winton and Lauren Tenney. Around 32:40 they discuss how Trump could be considered a new shaman due to the manipulation of archetypal symbolism, albeit unconsciously and for debased purposes. So Clinton could also use this with conscious intent, which it seems the DNC convention did a good job of, creating the nurturing parents and community together archetypes in distinction from the self-serving tyrant.

It seems the discussion also has the same archetypes, in that we as conscious, autonomous individuals work together via higher purpose like a school of fish. It is akin to the dynamic we've explored in the peer to peer collaborative commons, and what Joe Corbett calls libertarian eco-socialism.

[Edward theurj Berge]

Which Preston post talks about Trump and the deficient magical structure?

[DavidM58]

The Donald As Caligula
"Mickunas, who is one of the translators of Jean Gebser’s Ever-Present Origin, was, like Gebser, most concerned with the reversion to the magical structure with the breakdown of the mental structure. “Technocratic shamanism” (which I’ve compared to the magician Klingsor in the Parsifal legend) is described, briefly, by Mickunas as follows: “..the fragmenting mental consciousness is supported by and is an expression of the magical consciousness. The latter pervades and dominates the metaphysics and ontology of modern reason and it is empowered to establish arbitrary rules for the mastery of the environment, including other humans” (“Magic and Technological Culture”, p. 125. My emphasis).

So, we’ll speak to that “technocratic shamanism” in due course, to what Mickunas understands by “technocratic shamanism” and its social and political implications — particularly its connection to “fascism”, since the very word “fascism” also draws in meanings from the realm of magic and sorcery — a “fascinum” (or fascination) also being a “binding” power as magical spell, an enchantment… That is to say, propaganda as spell-casting."
https://longsworde.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/the-donald-and-caligula/

Preston further discusses Technocratic Shamanism as deficient magical here:https://longsworde.wordpress.com/2016/06/12/technocratic-shamanism

Candidate Trump and the New Normal is about Trump representing the breakdown of the mental-rational structure.
https://longsworde.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/candidate-trump-and-the...

The Mental Meltdown and the Return of the Repressed.
Preston sees the return of the repressed past structures as inevitable, but we can either do it in a healthy, integrated way, or in an un-healthy, unconscious way (which Trump demonstrates).

"For Gebser, of course, the return of the repressed is both a highly structured and yet also a choatic process — the “double-movement” as he calls it. The “irruption” of the ancient forces represented in the magical, the mythical, and even the archaic consciousness structures which he calls “presentiation”. (“Presentiation” might be considered equivalent to “return of the repressed”, while “distantiation” — or “progression” — is similar to suppression or repression). Against this return of the repressed, rationalism (or the perspectival, mental-rational consciousness structure, or Urizenic Man) is in a losing battle to preserve command and control. The task as Gebser sees it, is not repression, but to integrate the return of the repressed into a new psychic whole, a new structure — the integral structure of consciousness. This was also Blake’s apocalyptic vision for the “New Age” — Albion is his symbol of the Zoas re-integrated in a psychic whole."
https://longsworde.wordpress.com/2016/07/26/the-mental-meltdown-as-...

[Ambo Suno]

Hi David.
Though I don't seem to understand this fully and in detail, I think I get some of the jist.
It makes sense to me that a 'task' would be to integrate the regression-related chaos and senses of danger.
Would that I could say more now.
Thx.




DavidM58 said:

The Donald As Caligula
"Mickunas, who is one of the translators of Jean Gebser’s Ever-Present Origin, was, like Gebser, most concerned with the reversion to the magical structure with the breakdown of the mental structure. “Technocratic shamanism” (which I’ve compared to the magician Klingsor in the Parsifal legend) is described, briefly, by Mickunas as follows: “..the fragmenting mental consciousness is supported by and is an expression of the magical consciousness. The latter pervades and dominates the metaphysics and ontology of modern reason and it is empowered to establish arbitrary rules for the mastery of the environment, including other humans” (“Magic and Technological Culture”, p. 125. My emphasis).

So, we’ll speak to that “technocratic shamanism” in due course, to what Mickunas understands by “technocratic shamanism” and its social and political implications — particularly its connection to “fascism”, since the very word “fascism” also draws in meanings from the realm of magic and sorcery — a “fascinum” (or fascination) also being a “binding” power as magical spell, an enchantment… That is to say, propaganda as spell-casting."
https://longsworde.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/the-donald-and-caligula/

Preston further discusses Technocratic Shamanism as deficient magical here:https://longsworde.wordpress.com/2016/06/12/technocratic-shamanism

Candidate Trump and the New Normal is about Trump representing the breakdown of the mental-rational structure.
https://longsworde.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/candidate-trump-and-the...

The Mental Meltdown and the Return of the Repressed.
Preston sees the return of the repressed past structures as inevitable, but we can either do it in a healthy, integrated way, or in an un-healthy, unconscious way (which Trump demonstrates).

"For Gebser, of course, the return of the repressed is both a highly structured and yet also a choatic process — the “double-movement” as he calls it. The “irruption” of the ancient forces represented in the magical, the mythical, and even the archaic consciousness structures which he calls “presentiation”. (“Presentiation” might be considered equivalent to “return of the repressed”, while “distantiation” — or “progression” — is similar to suppression or repression). Against this return of the repressed, rationalism (or the perspectival, mental-rational consciousness structure, or Urizenic Man) is in a losing battle to preserve command and control. The task as Gebser sees it, is not repression, but to integrate the return of the repressed into a new psychic whole, a new structure — the integral structure of consciousness. This was also Blake’s apocalyptic vision for the “New Age” — Albion is his symbol of the Zoas re-integrated in a psychic whole."
https://longsworde.wordpress.com/2016/07/26/the-mental-meltdown-as-...

[Edward theurj Berge]

Also see how this relates to another thread.

DavidM58 said:

The Donald As Caligula

[Edward theurj Berge]

70+ Republicans send letter to RNC chair to dump Trump. A sample:

“We believe that Donald Trump’s divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide, and only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck. This should not be a difficult decision, as Donald Trump’s chances of being elected president are evaporating by the day.”

“Those recent outrages have built on his campaign of anger and exclusion, during which he has mocked and offended millions of voters, including the disabled, women, Muslims, immigrants, and minorities,” the letter states. “He also has shown dangerous authoritarian tendencies, including threats to ban an entire religion from entering the country, order the military to break the law by torturing prisoners, kill the families of suspected terrorists, track law-abiding Muslim citizens in databases, and use executive orders to implement other illegal and unconstitutional measures.”

[Edward theurj Berge]

Populism is dead says Thomas Frank in this piece. Now that Trump has self-destructed and a Clinton Presidency is likely, Clinton can return to her true agenda as neoliberal hack in the one-party system. She's now openly courting Republicans and has long courted the big banks and Silicon Valley. Her policy proposals are returning right, like with Kissinger and war mongering. And Trump, as a faux populist, will be used by the neoliberals to exemplify the futility of the populist movement and destroy its credibility, since Clinton will quickly abandon that mantle.