Okay, this will be my last political post ahead of next Tuesday's presidential election here in the U.S.
I intend spending any spare time I have between now and then being outside and making the most of the beautiful autumn weather we’re currently experiencing here in the Twin Cities of St. Paul/Minneapolis. I also intend to cultivate times of silence and prayer so as to prepare for whatever eventuates, politically, next week. And to pray for an election process – and an election result – free of violence and chaos.
My hope
Yet before I begin spending my time on these things, I want to share some thoughts that are weighing on my heart and mind regarding the 2024 presidential race. First, about next week’s election specifically, I’m very much aware that an increasing percentage of the U.S. population is fed up with both corporate-backed major parties. In relation to the Democrats, people are fed up with how, election cycle after election cycle, the Democratic establishment unfairly manipulates the primary process and undemocratically selects and coronates its preferred presidential candidate. Again and again, we’re put in the situation where, for all intents and purposes, we’re told we must vote for the lesser evil, a process that has lowered the caliber of candidates so that in recent years the choice presented has included some of the most unpopular and uninspiring presidential candidates in U.S. history. We’re being gas lit constantly, and it’s only a matter of time before people say enough! We’re already seeing this in the increased interest in and support for the people-powered Green Party. Also, the fact that Kamala Harris is still neck-and-neck with a fascist like Donald Trump shows what a weak candidate she is, and one who (like Trump) supports genocide. For many, many Americans, myself included, that is a real problem
The Democratic establishment is constantly stressing the danger to democracy that Donald Trump poses. And, for sure, Trump and his brand of fascism is a threat. Yet here’s how many of us who identify as progressive see what Democrats and “liberals” declare as the “clear choice” before us: not as fascism vs. democracy but as one corporate-back party that represents a nose-dive for democracy vs. another corporate-backed party that represents a managed decline of democracy. Either way we’re eventually screwed. People intuitively sense this, which accounts in large part for the lack of enthusiasm across the board for this presidential race, apart from the MAGA crowd and the Vote Blue No Matter Who crowd, both of which are capable of displaying cult-like attitudes and behaviors.
The bottom line for many of us is that until we break the corporate-backed Republican/Democratic duopoly and its corrosive effect on our democracy, the threat of authoritarianism will never be vanquished. A Harris electoral victory may keep it at bay for another four years, but if the corporate-backed duopoly continues so will the economic inequality that it generates. It will, therefore, be only a matter of time before a more polished and effective authoritarian populist emerges to replace the increasingly hapless Trump in peddling false hope and racist tropes in response to the legitimate anger and hardship caused by this ever-widening economic inequality.
As a Green Card holder, a “legal alien,” I can’t vote in U.S. elections. Nevertheless, my hope is that Trump is defeated next Tuesday – but only just. I say this because I don’t want the Democrats to be let completely off the hook. I want their narrow (but clear) victory to wake them the hell up to the fact that they can no longer be the neoliberal, Republican-lite, and, in many ways, un-democratic party they’ve chosen to become these last few decades. I also hope the Green Party earns over 5% of the national vote so that it gains minor party status and can finally move forward electorally and help both break the duopoly and begin the vital work of dismantling the American empire. To my mind, the achievement of these two tasks is the only path forward into a safe, prosperous, and truly democratic future for the U.S., and in many ways the world. I therefore hope and pray that the results of the November 5 election put us firmly on this path.
Pushback
I recently received pushback from some liberal friends for not being sufficiently vocal in my support of Kamala Harris and for highlighting on social media the Green Party ticket of Jill Stein and Butch Ware. I responded to one of these friends by noting that I’ve long felt called to vocalize and share a politically progressive perspective, one that’s to the left of the centrist Democratic party and its selected presidential candidate. As such, I well understand that if you want to pull the major party that’s closest to your way of thinking TO what you’re thinking, you MUST be willing to be an informed and relentless critic AND show that you’re capable of not voting for them. As Frederick Douglass famously said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
I do not consider this type of informed criticism and demand-making as anti-Harris “disinfo” or “propaganda,” as one friend opined. I think for actual propaganda one only needs to look at the corporate “liberal” media outlets and the way they uncritically tout Harris, papering over her pro-genocide stance, her weak and uninspiring rhetoric and platform, and her willingness to pursue Dick Cheney supporters rather than Jill Stein supporters (who are much closer to the traditional Democratic base). Again, informed criticism and the placing of expectations and demands on candidates closest to one’s way of thinking in order to push them towards and into this way of thinking, is not “propaganda.” It’s a strategy – and, for many, a calling.
The last thing I’ll say before sharing the “progressive perspectives” of others is this: Kamala Harris could have this election in the bag if she took the actions necessary to earn the votes she needs to win, especially around the issue of Israel’s ongoing “genocidal project” in Gaza. That she’s not doing this is solely on her. Accordngly, if she losses to Trump because of this, it will be on her – not on Jill Stein, not on Black men (as Barack Obama has scoldingly implied) and not on the voters. . . . Kamala Harris, her operatives, and her campaign need to remember that votes are earned, not owed.
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When Kamala Harris went in a populist [i.e., progressive] direction in the beginning of her campaign, and picked Tim Walz and proposed an economically populist agenda, we [at The Young Turks] said her numbers would rise. And they did, spectacularly.
When she went in an establishment direction and started saying how friendly she was going to be to big business and the military industrial complex (through the embrace of Dick Cheney and more militaristic speeches), we said she would go down in the polls. And she did.
Yet no one in mainstream media or the Democratic Party recognizes that populism is what’s moving the numbers. They barely even know populism exists. You can’t win a battle if you have no idea what battlefield you’re on.
The Democratic Party is not an obstacle to Trump’s [fascist] plots, but an accomplice. The Democratic Party articulates the interests of the same financial elite, as well as the most affluent sections of the middle class, and has been “winning” the money battle from rich donors. . . . The very conditions that have strengthened fascism – endless war abroad, malignant levels of social inequality and police state repression – are nurtured by the Democratic Party.
Fascism is not the mistaken policy choice of capitalist parties, much less individuals. As Trotsky explained in a series of brilliant writings in response to the rise of Nazism, fascism is a manifestation of the breakdown of bourgeois democracy under the weight of the contradictions of capitalism.
Mobilizing a mass movement based on the most reactionary sections of the middle class and backward sections of demoralized workers, fascism is the crudest distillation of capitalism – the nakedly violent domination of the working class at home and abroad for profit. The American experience bears this out. There have been other fascist political formations over the last century, for example, the Ku Klux Klan, the Silver Shirts, the German American Bund, the America First Committee and the John Birch Society. . . . The emergence of fascism in America owes something to these notorious right-wing pioneers and the toxic antisemitic, anti-immigrant and racist politics they espoused. It owes at least as much to American liberalism and the trade union bureaucracy.
. . . The Democratic Party offers nothing but austerity and war – and indeed, pays and arms fascists all over the world who serve as the long, blood-drenched talons of American imperialism, including those of the Azov battalions in Ukraine and the Israeli forces carrying out the “final solution” of the Palestinian “problem” in Gaza and the West Bank.
The fatal combination of financial-economic crisis and the global imperatives of U.S. imperialism drives the ruling class toward war on the working class. The ruling class, which has acquired the character of an oligarchy, is compelled to intensify its assault on the living standards of the working class.
The Democrats’ main concern with Trump is that his victory might interfere with far advanced plans for war with Russia. They fear the breakdown of the two-party system, that the framework of the bipartisan capitalist state is being undermined. And they are concerned that the exposure of the danger represented by Trump will produce a mass movement from below.
. . . To speak of a “lesser evil” in this situation is politically meaningless.
Instead of enticing voters with progressive policies that they desperately want, the Democrats are using the specter of another Trump presidency to try and get away with becoming full blown neo-cons. Don’t really see how that's Jill Stein’s fault.
– Eve6 via social media
October 9, 2024
Neither the Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton campaigns ran attack ads against Jill Stein, even though her campaigns in 2012 and 2016 drew comparable support. Nor did Joe Biden bother attacking Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins in 2020. Kamala Harris’s unprecedented move is hard to interpret as anything but a sign of desperation, especially in the context of other developments in the campaign.
Harris seems to be adopting a gimmicky new strategy every day, from embracing cryptocurrency to announcing that as president she’ll run all policy through a bipartisan council of advisors. She’s throwing everything against the wall, hoping that something, anything, will put her over the edge.
There’s one tactic Harris doesn’t seem keen to try, though. She won’t embrace the kind of antiwar sentiment and economic populism that might appeal to many currently unenthusiastic voters, but which would infuriate the Democratic establishment and the donor class.
The genocide in Palestine is the great moral litmus test of our age. It has divided humanity into those who oppose genocide, those who support genocide, and those who can’t be bothered to care. Only the first group will emerge unstained. The shame of the last two will carry on for generations.
Kamala Harris should call for an arms embargo on Israel, not just because it will help her with voters, not just because it’s in accordance with U.S. law, but because it’s the right thing to do. She must separate herself from genocide.
Fascinating to see a meltdown of liberals in America who, despite freaking out about a potential Harris loss due to conscience voters, would still rather berate those voters than call on their candidate to commit to ending arms trade to Israel. I saw a comment the other day saying the only thing liberals seek is the stabilization of empire. . . . The veneer of their progressive values has come crashing down, and in its place remains only their self preservation.
If Harris wants the progressive vote, she has to support an arms embargo on Israel and stop funding the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. This is a red line for many of us who have not bought into her liberal cult of personality.
. . . At a rally in Detroit on August 7, Harris was met by a group of anti-genocide, pro-Palestine protesters chanting, “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide! We won’t vote for genocide!” In a democracy, this is a perfectly reasonable and acceptable (if not necessary) action. Politicians serve the people, and the people have the right (and the responsibility) to make demands on their political leaders, especially when the latter are asking for their votes and campaign donations.
Yet Harris decided to respond: “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”
What purpose does this attitude serve? The protesters were merely expressing their demand that Harris pledge to stop arming Israel amid its genocidal war on Gaza. A war that has brought the official death toll in Gaza to more than 40,000; some estimates project that number to reach 186,000 or even higher. A war that has put one million children at risk of famine, according to the international nonprofit organisation Save the Children. A war that has decimated Gaza’s health sector, bringing back polio infections for the first time in 25 years.
Many of us spend our days scrolling through the most horrific images imaginable – toddlers beheaded by Israeli air strikes, people burned alive in their tents, emaciated children who die of starvation, political prisoners brutally raped by Israeli soldiers. The atrocities go on and on. My days and nights are haunted by these images, and none of this would be possible without U.S. aid, without our tax dollars.
But Harris doesn’t want to engage these very reasonable demands – to stop funding this slaughter, this genocide, this horrific violence. Instead, she wants to be celebrated for being charismatic, for her affect, for her vibes.
. . . Harris may be the lesser of two evils when it comes to Donald Trump, but the lesser of two evils is still evil. If she wants to win in November, she needs to give us more than vibes and celebrity culture – she needs to make a real commitment to ending the genocide in Gaza, first and foremost by not funding it. Anything less than this will lose her the progressive vote and, quite possibly, the presidency. If this happens, the liberals across the country will likely blame a nebulous “leftist-progressive” block, but in the end, this loss will be on Harris herself.
You can’t claim to oppose fascism, authoritarianism and an ethno-nationalist theocracy and at the same time back a U.S. regime that’s arming, financing, and politically backing a foreign state that is all that – and actively engaged in the horrific ethnic cleansing of its native population. The hypocrisy is staggering. And just as we witness with MAGA, there is no bottom. The horrors will not stop until we stop them. As the primary sponsor, the USA must stop backing it. Americans must not stand for it.
– Matthew Cooke via social media
October 20, 2024
[Sarah van Gelder’s recent Common Dreams op-ed, “A Note to My Fellow Progressives Hesitant to Vote for an Imperfect Kamala Harris” is] more propaganda bullshit. So, we should vote for genocidal maniac Harris because she is Black? . . . “[O]rdinary people can be heard,” [writes van Gelder]. You mean like we Greens you undemocratic pro-Democrat fucks managed to keep off the ballot in some states and worked so hard and spent so much money to keep off the ballot in other states? You mean like the anti-genocide protesters on college campuses? But we hear you Democrats! We hear your White supremacist KKK Democrat operative endorsing Dr. Jill Stein, a woman of Jewish heritage, as part of your dirty tricks. You did the same thing to an African American, Charles Barron, in the 2012 election for New York’s Congressional 8th District. Democrats “own” the vote of African Americans and don’t do shit for them. Harris’ policy for African Americans is a vacuous, cruel joke. Compare it to Dr. Jill Stein’s [see below]. A vote for Harris or Trump is a vote for genocide!
It’s absurd to blame Jill Stein for getting Trump elected; this is 100% Kamala’s and Biden’s fault. They have refused to listen to the voters, instead choosing to listen to the foreign government of Israel. Harris and Biden are completely under the influence of foreign campaign funding; clearly Israel or AIPAC or JDL are calling the shots. . . . If fascism takes hold in America, it won’t be all Trump’s fault. Harris owns the blame equally. She could win easliy, if she changed her policy on the Middle East, stand for International Law and the U.N. She could make an announcement today . . . but nope! She puts Israel first and Americans second.
– Sam Bee via social media
October 26, 2024
When a human rights issue could cost your candidate the election, you appeal to or pressure your candidate to correct course, if you value human rights as universal. You don't tell millions of people to fall into line regardless. Hope that makes the situation clear for you.
– Dana White via social media
October 20, 2024
In order to win, Harris should talk a whole lot less about Trump and a whole lot more about ways she’s going to make life better for the average American.
For people who are skipping meals to pay the rent, who are one paycheck away from living in the streets, who are without health insurance, who can’t live on just one job, who are worried about climate change, who can’t stand the forever wars, there’'s not much to laugh about or to be “joyful” about.
When Trump says “Make America Great Again,” while to millions of us that’s a total crock, to millions more it’s a sign of hope. False hope, yes, but people prefer false hope to no hope at all.
It’s not enough to say Trump will turn America into an authoritarian dystopia; Harris needs to say how she will turn it in the direction of something much much better for everyone.
Last Friday, October 25, author, activist, and progressive former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson appeared on NewsNation’s Dan Abrams Live where she shared her thoughts on how Kamala Harris can defeat Trump.
“Ameria is too expensive for Americans.” Marianne Williamson is once again saying it like it is. The Harris campaign would benefit greatly from Williamson’s timely advice while strategizing a successful path forward during this final stretch towards the White House.
– Sandy Fisher via social media
October 25, 2024
The Democrats are functionally incapable of combating Trump and Trumpism. They’re more accountable to their corporate and AIPAC donors than they are to the electorate. Harris has signaled that she’d rather lose the election by hemorrhaging Arab-American voters than defy her corporate sponsors by calling for a weapons embargo on Israel. Ditch the Democrats as if your lives and future depend on it – because they do. Fight for an independent, working class alternative – beginning (but certainly not ending) with a vote for Jill Stein in 2024.
– Ben Levy via social media
October 25, 2024
[This election is close] because voters know they’ve been screwed over by both parties for the last 30 years, and can’t figure out what to do to change things. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and getting the same result, then voting for Democrats and Republicans is sheer madness. They are both owned by Zionist, billionaire elites who don’t give a damn about you and me and flood the airwaves every four years with lies to gaslight the American people about how much they are for us, but the other guys are not. We are not that dumb, and it’s time to rise up, call BS on their lies and vote for the one party that is not and cannot be bought by the rich – the Green Party as represented by Jill Stein and Butch Ware. . . . Vote for them next week, if you haven’t already.
No, I won’t support the slaughter in Palestine as some sort of deal with the devil. I may live in a country where both the Republican and Democratic parties, both Trump and Harris, support genocide and apartheid, but I don’t have to participate in those crimes. I’m voting for Jill Stein and Butch Ware. And if Trump or Harris win, I will continue to resist them and their violent, racist parties with all that I have.
I have never subscribed to the idea that citizens who refuse to vote for a Democratic candidate in a tight race are somehow morally responsible for the election of a Republican, however bad that Republican might be.
If we are serious about liberal democracy, then we must recognize that every citizen has the legal, moral, and civic right to cast their vote as they choose, and that every single vote for every candidate must be earned. I may regret that many people voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 or Jill Stein in 2016. But it is wrong to presume that I can think or choose for others. The bottom line is that, given the arcane U.S. Electoral College system, the Gore campaign failed to win enough votes in 2000, and the Clinton campaign failed in 2016. It is not the fault of those progressives who refused to support them.
Dr. Jill Stein on Defining Success
for the Green Party
One discouraging thing I’ve discerned from living in the U.S. for 30 years is that Americans are probably one of the most propagandized populations in the world. That most Americans would dispute this is testimony to the success of this propaganda.
So who or what is behind all of this? Well, the reality is there’s long been a ruling corporate elite, an oligarchy, that is hell-bent on maintaining control of resources and the flow and concentration of capital primarily through a political duopoly – an enforced two-party system that stymies, disadvantages, and/or shuts out the electoral initiatives of other parties, including the “people-powered” (as opposed to corporate-backed) Green Party.
The corporate “mainstream” media has and continues to play a major role in this suppressing of genuinely democratic voices and movements in the U.S. For as Norman Solomon has pointed out, “[the] oligarchy’s biggest and strongest arm are the corporate media outlets.”
Anyone who dares challenge the oligarchy – including people who attempt to facilitate reform within one of the two parties, for example Bernie Sanders and Marianne Williamson within the Democratic Party – are routinely dismissed, maligned, ridiculed and/or invisibilized by corporate media. That’s simply a fact.
Perhaps no persistent challenger to the corporate capture of our political system has been more maligned, has had more disinformation levelled against her than Dr. Jill Stein, 2024 Green Party presidential candidate.
Last Tuesday (10/22/24) Dr. Stein was interviewed by Justin Hunte on Hunte’s podcast, The Company Man. The following comments in response to this interview provide a good overview of it. But by all means judge for yourself by watching this hour-long interview below.
• The [misinformation about Stein] being a grifter, about her and the Green Party doing nothing when a presidential race isn’t around, and her being in Russian pay have been chasing her ever since I first heard of her. . . . But every time I’ve heard her talk she’s impressed me with her honesty and analysis. Plus she handled all that criticism really well [in this interview].
• It’s amazing how she was able to consistently give straight answers to questions. Even the difficult questions about Putin and calling him a war criminal. This is leadership.
• Great interview – and great interviewee! Jill Stein is the only anti-genocide/pro-peace candidate worth voting for. America and the world deserve an intelligent and compassionate president with a conscience. That person is Jill Stein.
• Straight forward and a very insightful interview. Gonna continue to support Jill Stein.
• Thank you for having this interview with Dr Stein. This whole notion of voting Democrat as harm reduction is no longer compelling for me and my vote, when they continue to fail the people at every juncture and promote themselves ever upward.
• This was a great interview. When you told me you would be willing to have her on, I was a bit skeptical. Thanks for following through! I can’t remember the last time Stein got to sit for an interview that didn’t have an agenda, either pro or con. You coming in with a fresh, non-hostile perspective allowed discussion of some issues she doesn’t usually get to speak about.
• Jill Stein and [her running mate] Butch Ware have more than earned my vote here in Dallas, Texas. Enough with the duopoly! They’ve gotten us nowhere and put us in this predicament.
• Best interview of Jill Stein I’ve seen. No agenda. Just asking the questions and letting her answer uninterrupted.
• Already cast our votes for Stein/Ware! We desperately need to end the corrupt corporate duopoly. Let’s start by voting Green.
The following from the Jill Stein/Butch Ware 2024 campaign expounds upon the infographic that opens this post.
Top Goal:Turn the White House Green
Through our prolific ballot access efforts, the Stein/Ware campaign is eligible for 508 Electoral Votes – and we only need 270 to win. That means you can use your vote to vote for what you actually want and put President Jill Stein into the White House this election.
National Goal:5% of the Popular Vote for Public Funding
By earning at least 5% of the national popular vote this November, the Green Party will be eligible for millions of dollars in public funds for the 2028 General Election. This would be an absolute game-changer and a major challenge to the broken two-party system.
State Goals:Maintain Our Ballot Access
Ballot access is an incredibly large lift for candidates outside the two-party system, because Democrats and Republicans have designed restrictive, anti-democratic ballot access hurdles to protect themselves from competition. We are very proud to have overcome these hurdles to earn ballot access in most states, and the results of this election can also help us in future races. By earning at least a certain percentage in many states – some as low as 0.5%, many in the 1-2% range – we can ensure ballot access for state Green Parties in future elections, making it much easier to run more Green campaigns in the years to come.
Issues Goal:Win the Debate
Our agenda for people, planet, and peace is extremely popular with voters, but many of these critical issues and solutions are never even discussed by the establishment parties. For decades, Greens have led the way on countless issues, including single-payer healthcare, marriage equality, justice for Palestine, ranked-choice voting, marijuana legalization, reparations, the Green New Deal, canceling student debt, and more. With every voter who hears our message and every vote we get in November, we are gaining traction for the winning ideas in our platform and building demand for the policies we need.
Organization Goal:Build the Green Party
Polls have shown for years that a large majority of Americans believe we need a new major party because the establishment parties don’t represent the people. Our campaign is building the Green Party as a vehicle to challenge the failed two-party system and achieve the change we want to see in the world. By gaining ballot access across the country, building support for Green values and positions, and recruiting people into the Green movement, we are growing a sustainable political force that can change U.S. politics for good.
While the political establishment has destroyed or co-opted many other political parties and movements, for decades the Green Party has survived to continue fighting, with many wins along the way. Greens have long been an integral part of many people’s movements and have won more than 1,500 elections, making the Green Party the largest and most successful independent party in the U.S. that doesn’t take money from corporate interests. By channeling the energy of this campaign into building the Green Party movement, we are working towards getting more Green candidates into elected office and turning our vision of a better world into a reality.
Our message is resonating because we are not bought by special interests like Wall Street, fossil fuels, and the military industrial complex, freeing us to speak about the real change that Americans need. If you’re ready to break free from corporate-controlled politics, join us and vote for Jill Stein.
Thanks for all you do to build this inspiring movement for people, planet, and peace!
Autumn is the season of the soul. As the leaves just fall and let go of everything, so do we have to let go of the past and situations that are not ours anymore.
We all struggle, we all feel pain. Autumn is the season to become a little more introspective and to connect with the mystery and magic that is so tangible this time of year. In autumn, we are preparing ourselves to be reborn with the new year. This is a time of turning inward as we begin exploring our “underground” selves – our dreams and our intuitive powers.
As we watch leaves fluttering to the ground, we are reminded that nature’s cycles are mirrored in our lives. Autumn is a time for letting go and releasing things that have been a burden. All the religious traditions pay tribute to such acts of relinquishment. Autumn is the right time to practice getting out of the way and letting Spirit take charge of our lives.
Autumn reminds us of the impermanence of everything. We have experienced the budding of life in spring and the flowerings and profusions of summer. Now the leaves fall and bare branches remind us of the fleeting nature of all things.
I turn 59 today, and as has long been the tradition at The Wild Reed, I mark the occasion of my birthday by sharing a song, prayer and/or reflection that I find particularly meaningful; that says something about where I’m at on my journey and what’s most on my heart and mind.*
This year I’ve decided to share a song by singer-songwriter Loreena McKennitt, whose music I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing twice in concert, both times at the State Theatre in downtown Minneapolis – once in 1994 (my first year in the U.S.) and more recently last November with my friend Andrea (left). The song I share today is “Never-ending Road (Amhrán Duit),” from Loreena’s 2006 album An Ancient Muse.
I chose this song because I wanted something that returns me to what I know to be loving and true about both my own life and the shared life of humanity. I’m very much feeling the need for such grounding, especially given the profoundly troubling times we’re living through. They are times of genocide and a multitude of other forms of violence, of rapidly approaching climate catastrophe, and the undermining of democratic ideals and norms by both ongoing neoliberalism and rising fascism. And here in the U.S., I’m not alone in experiencing disheartenment and stress due to a presidential race dominated by two candidates dedicated to genocide, the “war machine” and oligarchy (hallmarks, it should be said, of the declining American empire).
I find myself daily needing to make time to quieten and still my mind so as to connect through prayer and/or silent meditation with the Divine Presencewithin and around me; to align with the Living Light of this presence and allow myself to be a conduit of its transforming love through my words and actions. I trust that this makes a difference, a positive difference, both in my life and in the world.
For me, Loreena McKennitt’s “Never-ending Road (Amhrán Duit)” brings to mind and heart all of these spiritual understandings and experiences I’ve come to trust. It does so through lyrics that reflect the two deepest of these understandings/experiences – the journey and the Beloved.
Years ago I described my spiritual journey as “spiralling forward with focus, direction, and energy.” I very consciously chose spiralling as I think it describes well the nature and trajectory of my journey. There’s often something circular, cyclical about it; yet I nevertheless discern and experience progress, a forward momentum. I also appreciate how spiralling brings to mind the graceful and focused movements of the whirling dervishes of the Sufi tradition, a mystic tradition with which I deeply resonate.
A hallmark of my journey to date is my ever-deepening embodiment of the mystic’s response to God as “the Beloved,” a response found within a range of mystical traditions – Christian, Sufi, Jewish – and one that often has erotic, including homo-erotic, overtones. I’m drawn to this type of universality, though to be sure, it’s a catholicity of religion rather than of church.
It’s also a universality reflected in “Never-ending Road (Amhrán Duit),” and one which Loreena acknowledges when talking about the song in the liner notes of An Ancient Muse.
No paticular time or place can be pinpointed as the inspiration of this piece. Instead, it has been one that has evolved over many years of reading the works of many poets, mystics from across the religious traditions, who sought to reflect the divine through love poetry: Rumi, Hafiz, Yunus Emre, Solomon ibn Gabirol, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Ávila. The universal theme is one of love, and in this never-ending road of life and rebirth, surely this is the sentiment that must endure.
The road now leads onward ~ As far as can be
Winding lanes ~ And hedgerows in threes
By purple mountains ~ And round every bend
All roads lead to you ~ There is no journey’s end
Here is my heart, I give it to you
Take me with you across this land
These are my dreams, so simple and few
Dreams we hold in the palm of our hands
Deep in the winter ~ Amidst falling snow
High in the air ~ Where the bells they all toll
And now all around me ~ I feel you still here
Such is the journey ~ No mystery to fear
It now leads onward ~ I know not where
I feel in my heart ~ That you will be there
Whenever a storm comes ~ Whatever our fears
The journey goes on ~ With your love ever near
* As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, it’s somewhat of a tradition to mark my birthday here at The Wild Reed by sharing a song or prayer or reflection that I find particularly meaningful. On my 44th birthday, for instance, I shared Stephan Gately’s performance of “No Matter What,” and when I turned 45 I shared “Where the Truth Lies” by the band Exchange.
In 2012, when I turned 47, I shared a prayer for balance at a very trying time, not only for myself, but for many of us here in Minnesota.
Seven years ago, on the first day of my fiftieth year, I shared a “guidepost on the journey,” and then one year later on the day of my 50th birthday, I shared Buffy Sainte-Marie’s rousing “It’s My Way.”
In 2017, when I turned 52, I shared a poem by John O’Donohue; while on my 53rd birthday I shared “Love Is,” a beautiful meditation on the mystery of love by my favorite male vocalist Carl Anderson.
The year I turned 54 I shared “This Is the Time,” a beautiful song by Senegalese singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Daby Touré, and when I turned 55 it was Black’s “Wonderful Life” that encapsulated much of what I found myself experiencing at that time.
When I turned 56 I shared Dusty Springfield’s reflective recording “Home to Myself,” while on my 57th birthday I explored some “deeper understandings” via Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri’s rousing song “The Long Ride Home.”
I established The Wild Reed in 2006 as a sign of solidarity with all who are dedicated to living lives of integrity – though, in particular, with gay people seeking to be true to both the gift of their sexuality and their Catholic faith. The Wild Reed's original by-line read, “Thoughts and reflections from a progressive, gay, Catholic perspective.” As you can see, it reads differently now. This is because my journey has, in many ways, taken me beyond, or perhaps better still, deeper into the realities that the words “progressive,” “gay,” and “Catholic” seek to describe.
Even though reeds can symbolize frailty, they may also represent the strength found in flexibility. Popular wisdom says that the green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm. Tall green reeds are associated with water, fertility, abundance, wealth, and rebirth. The sound of a reed pipe is often considered the voice of a soul pining for God or a lost love.
On September 24, 2012,Michael BaylyofCatholics for Marriage Equality MNwas interviewed by Suzanne Linton of Our World Today about same-sex relationships and why Catholics can vote 'no' on the proposed Minnesota anti-marriage equality amendment.
"I believe your blog to be of utmost importance for all people regardless of their orientation. . . . Thank you for your blog and the care and dedication that you give in bringing the TRUTH to everyone."– William
"Michael, if there is ever a moment in your day or in your life when you feel low and despondent and wonder whether what you are doing is anything worthwhile, think of this: thanks to your writing on the internet, a young man miles away is now willing to embrace life completely and use his talents and passions unashamedly to celebrate God and his creation. Any success I face in the future and any lives I touch would have been made possible thanks to you and your honesty and wisdom."– AB
"Since I discovered your blog I have felt so much more encouraged and inspired knowing that I'm not the only gay guy in the Catholic Church trying to balance my Faith and my sexuality. Continue being a beacon of hope and a guide to the future within our Church!"– Phillip
"Your posts about Catholic issues are always informative and well researched, and I especially appreciate your photography and the personal posts about your own experience. I'm very glad I found your blog and that I've had the chance to get to know you."– Crystal
"Thank you for taking the time to create this fantastic blog. It is so inspiring!"– George
"I cannot claim to be an expert on Catholic blogs, but from what I've seen, The Wild Reed ranks among the very best."– Kevin
"Reading your blog leaves me with the consolation of knowing that the words Catholic, gay and progressive are not mutually exclusive.."– Patrick
"I grieve for the Roman institution’s betrayal of God’s invitation to change. I fear that somewhere in the midst of this denial is a great sin that rests on the shoulders of those who lead and those who passively follow. But knowing that there are voices, voices of the prophets out there gives me hope. Please keep up the good work."– Peter
"I ran across your blog the other day looking for something else. I stopped to look at it and then bookmarked it because you have written some excellent articles that I want to read. I find your writing to be insightful and interesting and I'm looking forward to reading more of it. Keep up the good work. We really, really need sane people with a voice these days."– Jane Gael
"Michael, your site is like water in the desert."– Jayden
