E Pluribus Unum

One out of many

Anyone with eyes can see that America is on the road to becoming full-fledged police state under present administration in less than a year. But it is not the first time. Various states in America have always been police states for black, brown, and native people.

Historians of authoritarianism always point out that in addition to the military and the police, there is also a secret police, accountable to no-one. It’s been clear since day one that the Patriot Act created the condition for a modern, repressive police state to rise in the USA. The only thing to wonder about is why it took so long. I guess we were distracted by foreign terrorists. Now that we have dealt with them, destroying and destabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan in the process, the State has turned its attention to the “enemy” within, “We the people.”

As a Buddhist observer, and someone whose political sentiment have always been aligned with the left—especially with deep ecologists like Arne Naess, Gary Snyder, (but not the racist Edward Abbey) and so on, and modern anarchists like Graeber, Wallis, Bookchin, and so on—I am not surprised by the backlash. It’s been building since 1965 and the Great Society initiatives passed under Johnson. Nixon and the Southern Strategy was the first evidence of backlash—but even before that were the systematic attempts by business interests in the United States to oppose and then undermine Social Security.

There has never been a valid danger of left wing authoritarianism happening in the United States, despite the absurd rhetoric of modern Republicans demonizing rightwing Democrats as radical left lunatics. What we are witnessing now is the rise of virulent right-wing authoritarianism in the United States and not much more needs to be said. Either you are against it or you are for it—at this point there is no middle way. The only option forward is either the consolidation of a fascist, white ethnostate or a diverse, multicultural society. The present attempt to literally Whitewash America is going to end in blood everywhere. Not only are innocent undocumented immigrants to the US being summarily deported without due process, and executed if they resist, American citizens, who supposedly have rights, are also being executed. Renee Good was not the first, she just happened to be “white.” All of this is upsetting.

I am not allowing myself to give into anger over these issues—anger clouds the mind and mirrors the impotence of the white supremacists, whose personal feelings of inadequacy and fear of others has led them to enlisting in ICE and violating American laws. Anger exhausts one emotionally. I prefer to cultivate compassion for everyone. Compassion is a choice, so is anger. We have good examples for this. The Buddha states in the Udanāvarga:

Hostility never pacifies the hostile,

those without hostility pacify hostility.

Since animus harms living beings,

the wise do not engage in hostility.

The commentary by Prajñāvarmin expands on this and points out that hostility is only pacified by the absence of hostility, through patience, loving kindness, and compassion. The fault of not removing animus from one’s mind is injuring living beings. It is inevitable. As I wrote the other day, the commitment of refuge in the Dharma is to not harm other living beings.

Gandhi stated:

A satyagrahi [one who holds the truth] will always try to overcome evil by good, anger by love, untruth by truth, himsa by ahimsa. There is no other way of purging the world of evil.

Martin Luther King wrote in his autobiography:

“You must not harbor anger,” I admonished myself. “You must be willing to suffer the anger of the opponent, and yet not return anger. You must not become bitter. No matter how emotional your opponents are, you must be calm.”

Does this commitment to nonviolence or not harming other beings end at being passive? No. If we can prevent harm to other beings, people, animals, and so on, we must. We have an ethical obligation, a categorical imperative in Kantian terms. We do not even have to frame this in bodhisattva vow terms. The categorical imperative is more fundamental than bodhisattva vows.

First, we must recognize that anger is a toxic mental factor, driven by ignorance, and not allow it to flourish in our minds. We must meet anger with patience. Only then will we be able to exercise patience with the burgeoning police state.

In Vajrayāna terms, the fundamental energy of anger is the mirror-like pristine consciousness. Anger, resentment, and hostility lead to a hall of mirrors where every where one looks, one sees distorted images of oneself and others. But when anger, resentment, and hostility are pacified, the hall of mirrors vanishes, and the mind itself becomes a simple mirror that reflects without distortion.

We cannot control the anger of others, and we cannot condition others to agree with the Buddhist perspective. But we can observe ourselves and we can bring peaceful minds to this conflict, and hopefully, our focus on nonviolence, along with the other nonviolent traditions, will help derail forces of oppression, as has happened so many times before. Anger, resentment, and hostility will only lead to more anger, resentment, and hostility.

If one is going to stand in the street and protest, first cultivate loving kindness, compassion, and faith. When the crowd is being gassed, help others around you (and not by washing their eyes with water or milk, it only makes it worse). If you are not healthy enough to protest in the streets, you can write your representatives and lodge your objections. The Republic isn’t lost yet.

It is important to remember that the true motto of the United States is not “In God We Trust.” This unfortunate slogan has only been the motto of the United States since 1956. Prior to this, it was E Pluribus Unum, “One out of many” This should be the unity cry at protests against ICE. Five powerful syllables.

The police state is not inevitable. Resistance is and has always been an option. Black and Native people have been resisting the police state arrayed against them since the beginning of the Republic and before. Also immigrant workers have always felt the brunt of the police state. But, as the chant goes, “We shall Overcome.” There are far more of us than there are of them. They may have guns on their side, but we have rights and moral certitude on our side. They are afraid and hide behind masks, we have the courage of our convictions, and our faces are exposed.

E Pluribus Unum.