The Dark Circus: Why I Won't Vote in This Election

A ~10,500-word text on my meaning-making around the 2024 USA election

Epistemic status: I am one man with a limited perspective. I am speaking here about matters of enormous complexity. I am at least ~fairly agnostic about ~many of the perspectives I share here—I take my own mind and meaning-making with a pinch of salt. I respect your right to disagree with me on any of this. I respect your right to vote for who you believe is the better choice. Love and blessings to you and yours. Amen.

Election season, man.

Always a wild ride for Americans.

And this one has been a doozy.

A couple months ago, a friend of mine tweeted something like (paraphrasing):

“Many people are too focused on metaphysical philosophizing when they have no coherent political theory. I want to know how you would solve poverty. Get your politics figured out first, then you can play around with metaphysics.”

I don’t fully resonate with this sentiment, but I felt kinda ‘called out’ by it.

As somebody whose primary philosophical interest for the past ~12 years—and especially the past ~6 years—has been the (spiritual) nature of reality, I felt like perhaps my friend was pointing out a blindspot I needed to look at.

I believe this was an impetus that played a role in propelling me down the (American) political ‘rabbit hole’ the past few weeks.

I’ve spent a lot of time listening to many of the strongest arguments I can find from various liberal and conservative commentators. And I’ve spent a lot of time writing, attempting to clarify my own current sensemaking around politics.

It’s been an interesting journey, and it’s leading to fascinating places.

The piece you are presently reading was mostly written ~1-2 weeks ago. It spells out a lot of my meaning-making around this year’s US election.

Interestingly, since writing this, there have actually been some developments in my process—some new data points flowing into my field—that might lead me to vote after all. That remains to be seen. I may add a blurb at the end of this piece sharing more about that—but I’d recommend reading this piece first, if you want a fuller picture of my process. (Or if you are hungry for the latest data points, follow me on Telegram.)

Without further ado, if you’re ready to go on a strange journey, let’s get into it.

The Dark Circus of American Politics

The circus is back in town.

So let’s talk about it.

In my adult life, if I’m honest, my feeling about politics has often been something like:

This is a cacophonous carnival of bullshit.

A farce.

A ludicrous joke.

A hyper-divisive spectacle beckoning us toward an abyss of collective madness.

The other day I published a piece called, ‘The Election is Mostly Another Distraction.’ 

I still like that piece—though perhaps its conclusion is too extreme, cynical, or biased.

I’m not sure.

I wanted to write a follow-up to further clarify my thoughts.

In this piece I’ll explain in detail the glaring shadows I perceive in both the Trump and Harris campaigns—but first, I’m going to lay some groundwork.

Let’s dive in.

On Voting

First of all, I am not opposed to voting. If I felt there was a worthy candidate who deserved my vote and had a chance to win, I would probably vote for them. 

However, I am not convinced that voting actually counts for much, as I often sense the US president as more of a puppet-like, symbolic figurehead than someone who actually has significant power to effect change. I’m open to being wrong about this latter point; it may sound cynical; but frankly I do not trust the US government, the ‘deep state,’ or the ‘man behind the man behind the man behind the throne’—aka, the hidden networks of power that pull many of the strings in our world. 

I love America. I love my home country. But I do not trust those who control it.

“Where Attention Goes, Energy Flows.”

Where attention goes, energy flows—and that toward which energy flows, enlarges.

People get extremely riled up about presidential elections. It becomes an enormous energetic black hole, sucking in gargantuan quantities of people’s time, attention, and energy. People spend endless hours fixating on it, debating with family members, promoting their side, etc. etc. etc.

Don’t give your precious attention to black holes of bullshit.

To be honest I am not convinced the ‘media-industrial-complex’ would fan the flames of this giant fixation if it were actually an empowered course of action for the American people. For me the mainstream ‘news’ and media seem heavily co-opted by the warmongering ‘deep state’ plutocracy and by ‘dark-magickal’ forces—resulting in a tremendously effective propaganda machine that is primarily aimed at 1) distracting people from what truly matters; 2) ‘spellbinding’ their focus upon disempowering, fear-and-anger-producing, limbic-system-hijacking storylines; and 3) maintaining the status-quo disparities of global wealth and power (or worsening them).

I would generally recommend for people to turn off the ‘news’ and to always be skeptical of anything that is gaining massive media attention. Diving down the political rabbit hole these past few weeks has been a sickening reminder of just how divisive, distortive, sovereignty-destroying, mind-f**king, and obfuscating the ‘political information’ environment has become.

Imagine…

Imagine if all the energy, time, money, and attention poured into a single US presidential election were poured into global efforts to end war, or to help the world’s most impoverished people, or to build ‘New Earth testing grounds’ in which earnest groups of good-hearted people could experiment with new modes of harmonious co-existence. 

I just want people to consider how disempowering it is for the great mass of people to be made to feel like their ~main hope of effecting change is to ‘vote’ once every four years—to ‘vote’ for one of two ~always-terrible (~establishment-approved) choices who will fill an office that may be largely symbolic anyway. I feel like this is an implicit narrative conveyed to ~most Americans, and it is preposterously disempowering. 

In large part I am resistant to ‘voting’ at this point because I don’t even want to give my energy to this farce. For me this ‘two party’ system is woefully broken and inadequate. The three-equal-branch system of US government—as outlined by our founders—holds a certain brilliant potential, but that brilliance has been corrupted by an illusory two-party system full of plutocratic pawns. The fact that there are only two ‘parties’ who have ~any chance of winning a US election lends itself to massive tribal polarization and antagonism, as the two ‘parties’ inevitably become framed as opposite ends of a dualistic (war-consciousness-engendering) polarity. I don’t believe this is a mere accident. 

To even give energy to this mess by consenting to ‘vote’ seems, in a way, like consenting to the existence of this (pathetic excuse for a) ‘democracy’ in the first place. 

Countless Other Ways to Vote

I would rather vote for the reality I actually want to live in—a reality in which we transcend morally-bankrupt forms of ‘governance’; transcend war-consciousness; realize we are part of one cosmic God-body; and transfigure Earth toward Heaven by designing a civilization that is truly rooted in loving wisdom.

And I *can* vote for this reality.

I can vote for it by writing about it. I can vote for it by making music about it. I can vote for it by building community, friendship, and culture around it. I can vote for it by holding sacred spaces that facilitate its emergence. I can vote for it by practicing to truly embody it in my daily life. I can vote for it by turning off the ‘news,’ turning off the screens, putting down the vices, and being truly Present with my family. I can vote for it by spending a lot of time in the forest, listening to the ancient Gaian tree-guardians. I can vote for it by doing my best to hold all beings in Love. I can vote for it through sincere prayer and stillness. I can vote for it by creating it all around me—with my own hands, heart, mind, soul—in a thousand small ways. 

Impact is not nearly as linear or quantifiable as we have been led to believe. The most heart-powerful forms of impact are non-linear and come from Source—from allowing the Love of God-Source-Nature to pulse forth into this world via the channel of the open heart.

“I am not at all convinced that the most effective altruist
The most sophisticated billionaire philanthropist
Is truly more impactful than
A no-name mother who truly loves her child
Truly loves her child
With grace, presence, and heart-wisdom”

— jb, ‘make entire life a prayer’

There are innumerable empowering ways I can *truly* vote for the reality I want to live in. Imagine what would happen if we taught children from a young age to vote in *this* way—to vote by *being Love* and creating* and *building* and *embodying* and *focusing on* that which they want to see. Imagine what would happen if we taught children that their focus and attention are truly un-price-able treasures—and that they vote in every moment for the reality they want to live in, based on where they are placing their focus. 

“Attention is actually the currency 
That we pay to what we focus on fervently”

— Illuminati Congo

We become what we focus on.

Yes, in a profound sense, we do.

And as such, we cannot hope to transfigure Earth into a sanctuary if we are not focusing on, visioning, designing, creating, and experimenting to discover what this sanctuary actually looks like, feels like, sounds like, and how it functions. If our focus is constantly hijacked into images of violent death, wickedness, warfare, farcical ‘elections,’ authoritarian ‘crisis-response’ control measures, and the brokenness of the legacy system, we will remain locked into the reality-tunnel that allows these possibilities to manifest—and we will continue to recreate them. At a certain point we need a critical mass of people to ‘snap out’ of the dark hypnosis and focus single-pointedly on visioning, designing, and creating the civilization they *actually* want to live in. This is what true empowerment and true voting looks like. 

That is not to say that we should all just ‘stick our heads in the sand’ and ignore the grim conditions afflicting many people on Earth. No. It is vitally important to countenance the darkness—within the world and within oneself. In acknowledging the darkness within and holding it in the Highest Light Which Has No Opposite, we begin to do the shadow work necessary to own our own darkness, integrate it, and alchemically transfigure it into God-surrendered, heart-led power. And in acknowledging the darkness ‘outside’ in the world, we reckon with the actuality of our situation; we discover that Earth needs us; we activate; and we are given the opportunity to transfigure our grief and rage into a Roaring Fire of Passionate Motivation to ACT in service of “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.” 

Yet we must be careful not to get ‘stuck’ in the stage of staring at the darkness. I see too many people get roped into this trap. They fall down the (conspiracy) rabbit holes and they become ensnared in an ominous reality-tunnel—continuously focusing on it, researching it, giving it more energy, enlarging it in their consciousness. This becomes its own kind of disempowering ‘matrix.’

We must realize that ‘staring at the darkness’ is meant to be a stage. At a certain point, we have to ‘snap out’ of this matrix and start acting, visioning, and CREATING what we truly want to see. We have to do the sincere inner work to train our *focus*, such that we are able to continuously focus on God, Love, Presence, Nature, Family, Community, our North Stars, our true values, our dharmic vocations, and the world our hearts truly want to create. 

Yes, periodically countenancing the darkness can be an important ongoing practice. But *only* after clearly exiting the ‘staring at the darkness’ stage and gaining solid unstoppable momentum toward ACTING, SERVING, and CREATING the life and world we truly want to live in. 

‘Dark Magick’ & Spiritual Warfare

Another important piece that I touched on in passing is the presence of ‘dark magick’ in our world. This is a large factor in my current understanding of the world—I wrote at length about it in this essay and my fourth book—and it’s something that ~most people are not really aware of. There is a reason why most cultures in human history held a belief in ‘demons’ or other types of nefarious entities or forces. This is because we do actually live in a multidimensional reality. There are non-physical beings and forces all around us, existing in subtle realms of energy that are not visible to most people.

Only those whose ‘psychic’ or shamanic sense has been activated are able to directly ‘see’ or otherwise perceive these subtle entities. Again, most (indigenous) human cultures have understood this and valued shamanic gifts, but our modern secular global monoculture—probably due in ~large part to a demonic / dark-magickal hypnosis—tends to deny the existence of such entities. As someone who has quite literally stared these ‘devils’ in the eyes—as clearly as if they were physically standing in front of me—I can tell you that they are real. And it is a great mistake to deny their existence and underestimate them.  

I don’t say this to frighten anyone. It is unwise to give in to fear. Yet we must soberly countenance our actual situation, if we wish to be clear-eyed, empowered creators. 

As I have written elsewhere, ~vast portions of our global society and institutions are substantially co-opted by dark-magickal forces. Yes, I am literally asserting that many people and institutions on Earth are substantially influenced or ‘possessed by demons,’ to varying degrees, at this stage of civilization. You can conceive of these ‘demons’ as psycho-archetypal or entropic forces if you like—rather than ‘real’ subtle entities who are ‘out there’—though I would caution that this form of conceptualization tends to result in underestimating how powerfully autonomous and cunning these entities are. 

When we are truly humbly connected to God-Christ-Light-Love-Tao-Source-Truth through our open Hearts, these entities have no power over us. We see them for what they are: Lost, weak, tortured, twisted, forgotten beings who have been contorted into a disgusting shape—beings who are ‘the least among us’ and truly most in need of our unconditional Love and Grace. Yet when we are disconnected from God, from ourselves, from our own souls—as so many people are in the present world—we can easily fall prey to demonic dark-magickal influence. Cautionary note to self: It is easy to overestimate the strength of one’s connection to God; many spiritual communities or leaders have also been co-opted to varying degrees by dark magick—so stay humble.

Please note that, in my experience, there are also vast numbers of non-physical benevolent beings who are assisting us (and at times intervening on our behalf): Angels, celestial beings, avatars, discarnate saints, good-hearted dragons, ‘guardian races’ of ETs, and so forth. When this was entheogenically revealed to me via ayahuasca in 2018, it was a significant catalyst that led me to become far less fearful of nuclear winters, AI takeovers, or other ‘existential risks.’

Having now been a father since 2021, I’ll say that some of my old fears about existential risks do bubble up at times—as I am especially concerned for my daughter. Most days I deeply trust God’s plan though.

I say all this to give some necessary context, as the factor of ‘dark magick’ is a significant one in my analysis of why I will not vote for either candidate in this election. We need to clearly see that:

‘Politics’ itself is massively co-opted by dark magick in 2024.

As I will write in a forthcoming essay:

The domain of ‘politics’ is massively co-opted by a dark-magickal egregore.

For me the word ‘politics’ holds extreme connotations of empty rhetoric, manipulation, information warfare, dishonesty, tribal squabbling, corruption, sociopathy, win-lose game dynamics, fake ‘democracy,’ and farcical theatre. 

This is a major issue that needs to be more widely recognized.

The language we use is supremely important. If certain words or categories have been heavily infected by ‘dark magick’—to the point that even entering the ‘frames’ or ‘worlds’ created by those symbols is deeply triggering, distortive, divisive, polarizing, and likely to handicap the vision of even high-sovereignty human beings—then we have a big problem. Words are not merely words. They are magical ‘spells’ that create entire worlds. 

As I said, I’ll share more on this topic in a near-future essay.

Now, let me look specifically at each candidate—and why I will not vote for them.

[Note: Both candidates do have redeeming qualities but I’m primarily going to focus on their (parties’) shadows now, as these are the reasons I won’t vote for them.]

Why I Won’t Vote for Harris

Let me start by saying that I believe both the Democratic and Republican parties—and the bloated US government and ‘military-media-education-corporate-pharmaceutical-industrial complex’ in general—are largely controlled by the same plutocratic ‘deep state,’ and are substantially co-opted by demonic / dark-magickal forces. 

I don’t say this because I hate America. I love America. I love my home country. I love its people. I love so many things about it. I plan to write more on this in a future essay. 

This isn’t about hating America and projecting phantoms where none exist. This is about soberly analyzing why America has been declining for decades and finds itself in a ‘cost of living crisis,’ in the early stages of a civil (information) war—and with shocking rates of chronic disease, suicide, drug overdose, addiction, and abortion of innocent babies. The hypothesis of ‘forces of destruction’ has immense explanatory power.

Harris and the Democrats project an aura of civility, ‘professionalism,’ and self-righteousness. They appeal to university-educated ‘elites’ and ‘woke’ folks who like to feel ‘holier and wiser than thou.’ 

For myself I simply do not believe that they are who they claim to be. 

Again, through strange sequences of (entheogenic) events in my life I have been gifted a substantially sensitized ‘psychic-shamanic’ sense. It’s okay if you don’t believe me about this. I realize a lot of what I’m writing in this essay may seem far-fetched—I retain my own degree of agnosticism about ~most of this and take ~most of it with a ‘pinch of salt,’ but this is my best present meaning-making—but if you’re still reading, you probably have had some similar experiences that opened you to non-physical or subtle-energetic realities. 

I’ve had visions of both the Democrats and Republicans being ~possessed by demonic forces. The general ‘vibe’ I get from the Democrats feels quite ‘slimy’ to me: All talk with no real substance. A veneer of ‘hope and change’ rhetoric that effectively disguises a deep level of corruption and dark-magickal influence. I believe the Democrats wield power and propaganda in especially sneaky, manipulative ways. I believe they control ~most of the mainstream American media, use it in divisive & propagandistic ways, and have an authoritarian shadow that became really evident during the Covid years. They weaponize ‘identity politics’ to divide and distract the American people. They are escalating the war in Ukraine—fomenting potential nuclear war—and have massively funded the horrible (~genocidal) war in Israel and Palestine; they act ‘high and mighty’ while funding or directly engaging in warmongering and the killing of innocents. 

Democrats are often suspiciously, almost manically obsessed with ‘pro-choice’ rights. They seem totally imbalanced on this issue, never mentioning the ~substantially dark-magickal nature of abortion itself, the karmically inauspicious consequences of abortion, the shocking ~70 million abortions per year on Earth, or the reality that abortion amounts to the extinguishment of (nascent) babies’ lives. (And look, I have compassion for those who resort to abortion; I see all sorts of factors that are making people feel as if they are ‘between a rock and a hard place’ and have no choice but to ‘terminate.’ I am not trying to condemn anyone here; just trying to illuminate the oft-overlooked shadows.) They try to normalize abortion as a ‘human right’ while completely glossing over the dark intricacies of this global trend. This phenomenon—and other factors related to ‘depopulation agendas,’ etc.—have led me to suspect that many Democrats harbor an unconscious, resentment-based, life-denying ‘death drive’ that is substantially demonic in nature. 

Democratic politicians also claim to care about the environment, nature, and the climate crisis, yet I’m afraid I mostly don’t detect true sincerity or integrity in their motives here. It’s important to notice the fact that gargantuan, nebulous, mostly-invisible crises—such as ‘pandemics,’ ‘climate change,’ far-off bogeymen, etc.—are the absolute *best* events for propagandists to weaponize as a justification for all manner of authoritarian controls. I am not saying such crises are entirely fictitious—the weaponization is most effective when there is at least ~some measure of truth to the crisis itself—but I *am* saying that we know far less about these ‘crises’ than the mainstream-media-approved ‘experts’ claim. And I *am* saying that such ‘crises’ have been and will continue to be leveraged by propagandists to advance nefarious (unconscious, dark-magickal) agendas of control, disempowerment, and perhaps even ‘depopulation.’ 

Democrats also tend to favor bigger government, ‘global government,’ and the removal of guns from the populace. Let me be clear that I don’t like guns—and if I could snap my fingers and remove all guns and bombs from Earth, I would—but I also understand that an armed population offers a measure of protection against tyranny. I am highly skeptical of gigantic governments or institutions of any kind; it seems to me that very few humans have done the level of inner work required to actually integrously wield the degree of power that a gigantic institution (potentially) has.

“He who loves the Earth as his own body is fit to rule the empire.”

— Lao Tzu

Earlier in this essay I know I expressed skepticism as to the actual power of the individual president, but there’s no doubt that the US government (and ‘deep state’) as a whole wields tremendous power. Because I believe the US government is already a substantially over-bloated, overly bureaucratic, overly militarized, substantially-demonically-co-opted enterprise, I am highly skeptical of a party that wants to increase the size of the government. I frankly have very little faith that giving more tax dollars to this behemoth is a good idea, as I don’t trust the US government to wisely utilize this money. I am also skeptical of ambitions toward ‘global government,’ as I do not believe in huge concentrations of (potentially-authoritarian) power—especially when the processes by which individuals gain power within such structures tend to favor the presence of psychopaths or sociopaths. 

You will ~never hear a Democratic politician (or ~any modern politician) encouraging people to unplug from the (news) media, meditate, realize God, become universal Love, train their focus, reclaim personal power, seal energy leaks, become wise, serve Earth, protect children, and create the reality they truly want to see. Maybe you’ll hear bits and pieces of this on rare occasions. This in itself tells you ~all you need to know about modern politicians. 

It’s also worth noting that Kamala Harris did not win any primary election. She was all but ‘installed’ by the Democrats. Democrats moan a lot about Trump being a ‘threat to democracy,’ but this type of quasi-‘installation’—not to mention the Democrats’ other authoritarian, censoring, warmongering shadows—also seems like a significant threat to whatever amount of ‘democracy’ yet remains in the USA.

As a final note, Democratic politicians are also suspiciously opposed to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency—an invention which, in its fullest expression, would have the potential to disrupt the existing power structures on this planet, opening up new realities and possibilities. 

In sum, many Democratic politicians are basically ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’—representatives of a (murderous) status quo who claim to want ‘hope and change’ yet who actually seem to just want to preserve the status quo and sneakily concentrate more (authoritarian) power. 

Kamala Harris seems like a pure puppet of the Democratic elites with very little sovereignty or originality of her own. A ‘useful fool,’ similar to Biden. She has actually openly stated recently that she can’t think of anything she would do differently from Biden, who has brought us to the brink of WWIII. So, I will not vote for her. 

This is what I see and sense. Now let’s talk about Trump: 

Why I Won’t Vote for Trump

Many American Republicans would likely enthusiastically agree with ~much/most of my characterization of the Democratic party. 

However, they probably won’t like what I am going to say about the Republicans and about Trump. 

I believe many Americans fall into the trap of a ‘Good Guys VS Bad Guys’ narrative: “If the Democrats are the ‘bad guys,’ that must mean the Republicans are the ‘good guys.’”

Unfortunately, I don’t believe that to be the case. 

As I’ve said, I believe the Republicans are also substantially co-opted by dark magick and the ‘deep state.’ 

Despite Trump’s promises in 2016 to ‘drain the swamp,’ ‘fight the deep state,’ serve average Americans, and end unnecessary wars, his actual record reveals that he did a substantial amount of warmongering, increased military spending, cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy, removed a bunch of environmental protections, did not raise the minimum wage, tried repeatedly to end the Affordable Care Act, and generally did not shift the overall direction of America in a substantial way.

If you read this essay by Daniel Pinchbeck, you’ll gain some insight into some of the darker shadows of Vance and other extreme Republicans—some of whom characterize Democrats as ‘unhumans’ and express a willingness to imprison or murder their political opposition. I am *not* in favor of (political) violence. I am not in favor of this level of dehumanization. I am not in favor of the fetishization of political ‘strong men’ who exhibit tendencies toward dictatorship. Pinchbeck’s fears seem overly alarmist to me [see this note of mine for a longer critique of his view]—especially considering Trump was already in office for 4 years and we did not see his party openly imprison or murder their opposition—yet I do believe there is some signal in what he is pointing at: An unsettling shadow (dehumanization & power-over) drive within the Republican party that affects Vance, Trump, and others. 

And this essay by Pinchbeck does a fine job of decrying both Republicans and Democrats for their support of the devastating conflict in Israel & Palestine—pointing out that “Trump ‘has promised that he will crack down on pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses,’ according to Al-Jazeera, calling the students part of a ‘radical revolution.’” Elsewhere I have seen Trump state that Israel should just “finish the job.” What does that mean?! Total decimation?! ~15,000 *children* have already been murdered—many shot in the head or chest by snipers. The murder of ~15,000 children in the name of ‘security’ cannot stand any true test of moral scrutiny. Both American parties ought to be ashamed of their support of this hideousness.

Republicans tend to be extreme in various ways. In my experience, many of them are quite paranoid, homophobic, or racist. Many of them are co-opted by the shadowy side of modern Christianity, using the Bible to justify non-compassionate attitudes toward non-Christians, gay people, or other groups. I say this as a lover of Christ.

Many Republicans express little concern for (farm) animals or for the environment. Many of them take meat-eating to the extreme or deny that any sort of environmental decimation has taken place on Earth. Again, Trump eliminated various environmental protections during his last term in office. 

Republican politicians across America have also been taking strong action to make abortion ~completely illegal. I believe these blanket policies are short-sighted. As much as I am not a fan of abortion, I believe our present situation is very complex. For one, of course you have the tragic cases of women becoming pregnant after being raped—in which case I believe a woman has a clear right to end the pregnancy. Many people are in dire economic conditions—in massive debt and unable to dig themselves out—and simply are not equipped to raise children. Yes, you can argue for adoption or that they “shouldn’t have unprotected sex,” but the reality is that 1) most people aren’t going to give away their baby once it’s in their arms; 2) our level of sex education is abysmally unenlightened; and 3) people are simply going to have sex anyway. Many economically downtrodden women will continue to become pregnant, and it’s not clear that forcing them to bring babies into conditions of dire poverty is a wise choice. I look forward to the day we evolve beyond abortion. For now, I’d be more likely to support a policy similar to Germany—where abortion is generally illegal, allowed only very early on in pregnancy, and women are required to receive mandatory counseling prior to having an abortion.

Republicans also tend to believe too strongly in the myth of the ‘self-made man’ and often ~affirm attitudes along the lines of “every man for himself” or “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” My view is that we are presently entering (and already in the midst of) a period of (AI-accelerated) economic calamity for much of the population. I have seen much evidence that the widely-declared ‘cost of living crisis’ is real and debilitating for many people right now. I am not personally convinced that big government is the answer to this—especially if the governmental institutions are substantially corrupted—but we need to take this problem seriously and realize that there *are* socioeconomic conditions that are heavily weighing on people. For nearly a ~decade I have felt ~some affinity with the idea of a Universal Basic Income—ideally one that would be basically automated, lightweight, requiring very little bureaucracy to implement and maintain. I don’t know if this is the ‘right’ answer, especially in America, but “every man for himself” is not going to bring us where we want to go. We need to begin considering new forms of collective intelligence, resilience, cooperation, and interdependence—and ways to revive older guardrails, such as strong local (church) communities, multigenerational households, and strong extended families. 

Republicans also seem to me to go too far in their anti-immigration or ‘remigration’ stances. Trump has spoken about wanting to send many illegal immigrants back to their home countries, yet huge numbers of these people have birthed children in America and have largely integrated with society. I do see excessive immigration as a serious issue, as I believe that massive influxes of people from entirely different cultures can have significant destabilizing effects upon the countries or cities to which they immigrate. I believe we are seeing this play out to varying degrees across Europe and the USA. Yet again I feel Republicans reactively swing toward a too-extreme stance on this issue—often adopting racist attitudes in the process—and begin supporting (policy) ideas that could have disastrous unforeseen effects. 

So far I have said little about Trump himself, but his character is also a central aspect of why I will not vote for him. Sam Harris—though biased, as we all are—speaks quite eloquently about Trump’s character defects in a clear and reasonable way that makes it very hard to completely deny the signal in what he is saying:

My biggest issue with Trump is that I believe the character, integrity, and behavior of the leader of America really matters. I want my daughter to see an American leader who acts like a mature adult. I would not want to tell my daughter that I voted for a man who spews such divisive & dehumanizing rhetoric, constantly lauds his own achievements as the ‘greatest ever,’ constantly distorts/manipulates or outright lies, has often disrespected women, openly states that Israel should just ‘finish the job’ after already killing ~ten of thousands of women and children, and so on. The president represents an energetic template that the youth of America see and ought to aspire to as an image of what mature leadership looks like—and Trump ain't it.

Steelmanning Both American Parties

So, that is my analysis of Harris and Trump.

Surely I am biased and straw-manning both the Democrats and Republicans to some degree here. What I have said is mostly intended to apply to the politicians in both these parties.

I do believe there are many wise and good-hearted people on both the American left and American right—many of whom deeply want real solutions for the challenges we face.

My analysis has specifically focused on why I won’t vote for either candidate—and so I have focused on their shadows. It was beyond my scope to explore their virtues here.

However, I do believe there are redeeming qualities of both the American right and American left. It is worth taking time on your own to ‘steelman’ both sides. Whereas ‘straw-manning’ is when you ‘caricature’ an argument to tear it down, ‘steelmanning’ is when you formulate the strongest version of an argument to discover its true merits. (Eric Brown is doing a good job of steelmanning Western culture lately.)

If you want to watch a great video of a brilliant, good-faith liberal debating a brilliant, good-faith conservative—in which both present a fairly well-steelmanned case for their respective sides—don’t miss this video: 

Or this one:

Destiny does an excellent job of steelmanning the case for the (American) left. And Peterson and Shapiro do an excellent job of steelmanning the case for the (American) right. Both are epic, constructive debates—of vastly higher quality than ‘presidential debates’ in recent years—and I hope they do more of them. 

[In the time since recording these debates, it unfortunately appears that Destiny has totally ‘gone off the rails,’ going as far as to curse out a deceased firefighter who died at a Trump rally (“fuck him”) and generally expressing grotesque levels of resentment and non-compassion toward all Trump supporters. I still believe the two debates above are worth watching for the sake of seeing someone steelman the American left, but I do not support Destiny’s stunningly cold-hearted antics of late.]

Unfortunately, my sensing suggests that such steelmanned, well-constructed arguments are not representative of the actual (dark-magickally-co-opted) motivations of (the [hidden] elites who control) either major American party. Steelmanned arguments by non-politicians don’t mean much when the people who are actually in power are corrupted and disconnected from the Heart—and when the institutions themselves are afflicted with a deep (dark-magickal) sickness. 

This doesn’t mean that I encourage everyone to abandon or burn down our institutions—but we are wise to soberly understand just how sick many of our institutions actually are. Still, I believe we’ve gotta ‘work with what we’ve got’—at least for now. This will look different for each person. Some will be called to try to alchemize things from within the existing systems and institutions. Some will be called to ‘leave society’ to varying degrees—and blaze new trails on the fringes. And so forth. Listen to your heart, find the way that is true for you.

Complexity & Dynamite

So, returning to the question of voting for Trump or Harris, I ask you this:

If you have an option to drop one of two corrupted sticks of dynamite into the precarious mine shaft of a 21st-century America-in-decline, which will do less damage and unearth more gold over the long-term?

This is a question of unthinkable complexity.

The situation in modern America—and the global geopolitical situation—feel fairly precarious right now.

Regardless of what anyone says, no one can *actually* accurately determine whether it is Trump or Harris whose decisions in office will ultimately lead to better outcomes for America, the world, and the cosmos.

There are literally infinite factors. A single decision or facial expression or offhand remark could occasion a domino effect that leads to favorable or horrendous long-term outcomes.

Now, I’ll admit that Trump is probably the larger ‘wild card’ of the two—more likely to ‘shakes things up,’ for better or worse. He has a wrecking-ball-like quality to him. Back in 2016, I wrote some pieces (this one, this one, this one) about the election. Those pieces are a fascinating mirror to look back on for me. At that time, I was much more concerned about Trump’s wild-card-ness. I felt he was quite clearly more likely to cause global-catastrophic events, and as such, I took the time to send in a vote for Hillary, all the way from Bulgaria.

It’s interesting how things have shifted for me since then. I still see Trump as an awful option with catastrophic potential. However, I’ve now lived through a Trump presidency, and the world didn’t seem to get much ‘worse’ during that time. I’d say Trump is far less of an ‘outsider’ to the ‘establishment’ than his fans believe—his presidency mostly felt like ‘business as usual.’ Trump’s actual actions and policies during his presidency seemed far tamer than his most outlandish statements. I mean, there was the whole Covid fiasco, but Trump didn’t catalyze that. Many Democrats point to the ‘January 6th debacle’ as an unprecedented disaster for American democracy. I basically agree it was a disaster for our ‘democracy’ and it is another reason I won’t be voting for Trump. However, I just personally don’t sense or believe Trump will try to forcibly, ‘fascistically’ stay in office after a second term; this seems extremely unlikely. It’s not enough of a concern to prompt me to vote for Harris.

I guess one of the biggest things that has shifted for me since 2016 is that I now have far less trust in the Democrats. I just flat out don’t trust either party. I saw way too much authoritarian and propagandistic weirdness from the Democrats during the Covid era. I saw the Democrats ~forcibly inject ~tens of millions of Americans with an untested, unproven mRNA technology. (No, no one was held down and injected as far as I know, but the threat of losing one’s livelihood is a damn strong incentive.) That was not okay with me. I’ve seen and sensed too many strange signals indicating to me that the Democrats are ~at least as dark-magickally co-opted as the Republicans—or more so. The sinister-ness simply adopts a more outwardly palatable disguise.

So, yeah, at the end of the day, I believe both options are dreadful and either could plausibly lead us into WWIII.

And I personally have no idea which is the worse choice.

Sometimes I have an inkling one way or another. I oscillate back and forth a bit. But I just really don’t know. I don’t feel strongly enough to vote for either of them. I don’t want to support either of them with a vote.

The Two-Party System Needs to Change

And I don’t want to support this farcical, hyper-polarizing two-party system with a vote either.

Americans deserve so much better than a choice between two ~always-terrible (~establishment-approved) clowns who often have narcissistic or sociopathic warmongering tendencies.

“We are led by the least among us,” as Terence McKenna once put it.

In a future essay, I’m planning to outline some in-depth ideas for what a more enlightened political system might look like.

One thing I can say on this right now is simply that connecting to God is the most important thing.

As I wrote here:

The innovation of new and wiser systems of governance is far more important than who gets elected within the present broken system.

And further upstream—upstream of everything—is consciousness work: Unless we [build] a critical mass of people who have reconnected to our loving source, our civilization will continue to reflect our deep disconnection from love.

For wise perspectives on politics, governance, system-design, economics, and consciousness, I recommend the work of Daniel Schmachtenberger, Jordan Hall, and Charles Eisenstein.

For wise perspectives from those who go to the root and focus primarily on consciousness work [aka God work], I recommend the work of Jesus Christ, Peter Brown (www.theOpenDoorway.org), Remi Delaune of Kumankaya (www.Kumankaya.com), Lao Tzu, Sri Anandamayi Ma, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Neem Karoli Baba, Paramahansa Yogananda, Thomas Merton, Adyashanti, David Hawkins, Byron Katie, Julian of Norwich, and Eckhart Tolle.

What the ‘Devil’ Wants

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.”

— Charles Baudelaire

As I’ve stated in this post, my experience has led me to believe that ‘dark forces’ exist within our world.

The sheer explanatory power of this hypothesis is worth considering. We see so much grotesque, evil, ‘fallen’ behavior all around us in this world. A simple explanation for this is that there are intelligent (non-physical) forces in a state of profound separation from our truly loving Divine nature, and that these forces—out of resentment, hatefulness, and a motivation to ‘feed on’ our fear and negativity—make great (highly subtle and deceptive) efforts to seduce us onto a path of evil, forever-war, and destruction.

You can think of these dark-magickal forces as ‘the devil.’

What the devil wants, is to see us deeply divided and disempowered. The devil wants us ‘at each other’s throats.’ The devil wants political polarization to destroy our families. The devil wants us to be so fixated on politics and ‘elections’ that we forget about our true power to come together, recognize interbeing, open to Love, and co-create the world our hearts truly want to see.

It is highly worthwhile to reflect on the way modern politics feeds precisely into this ‘satanic agenda.’

“Politics is the mind-killer.”

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

This is why I generally recommend to turn off the ‘news’ and unplug from ‘politics.’ The entire domain is infested with dark magick at this point. It is extremely difficult to engage with politics without becoming ‘mind-killed.’

If you do engage with it, I recommend doing so from a place of a sincere heart-calling, and I recommend seeking out long-form podcasts or articles by independent journalists.

Most would be better off unplugging from ‘politics’ and focusing on inner work, consciousness work, heart-opening work, personal growth, increasing sovereignty, increasing discernment, direct service, building a solid life, and soul-led creativity for a few years. Then—if there is a strong dharmic calling—and only then, return to the political sphere.

Again, I don’t think we should just abandon our institutions and ‘stick our heads in the sand.’ But to truly transform our institutions, we must first transform ourselves. This is a delicate dance.

And as we do transform ourselves, I believe we will find many of the solutions we are looking for outside of traditional politics. Maybe they’ll trickle into mainstream politics over time. But when I really reflect on this, I simply do not see a beautiful path forward for Earth that is primarily driven by politics. The word ‘politics’ has taken on too many connotations of endless tribal warfare.

The way forward, as I see it, will be primarily driven by loving, earnest individuals and communities coming together to do the true (inner) work, become Love, and create new future-ancient cultures and societal architectures that they truly want to exist within. There are infinite permutations of what this can look like.

More on this in a future (hopefully-coming-soon-ish) essay.

The Best News & the Importance of Placing Politics in a Larger Context

I once asked Peter Brown, “What is the enlightened view of politics?”

“Entertainment,” he replied.

This is a chuckle-worthy response that contains substantial signal. I don’t fully resonate with it, but I like how it points toward the transcendence of politics.

I also recall a biographer of Sri Anandamayi Ma once writing something like (paraphrasing), “Ma never descended to the level of politics. She always abided with the omnipresent Divine Substratum and invited people to rise into that space with her.”

These comments gesture toward the most important thing about our existence that almost no one directly notices: Our true context. The substratum that life is made of. The groundless ground of being.

With a grateful nod to the wonderful Timothy Conway and his model of the three simultaneously-true ‘levels’ of nondual reality, I hereby propose a similar model:

1. The conventional level: This is the ordinary human level. The dualistic ‘mundane’ world. The world of everyday experience wherein we live out spatiotemporally-bounded lives as men and women in a world of distinct, physical beings and objects. This is the level at which almost ~all of political discourse is focused. On this level, there is a lot of suffering. If one only perceives or only believes in this level, life can easily seem quite chaotic, random, or even nightmarish.

2. The soul level: This is the level of subtle, spiritual phenomena that is only perceivable by those whose psychic-shamanic sense has been at least somewhat awakened. This is the level of the various types of non-physical benevolent and malevolent beings, forces, and energies I have mentioned in this piece. This is also the level of soul evolution—where it is perceived that we all have immortal, non-physical souls that are on many-lifetime karmic journeys through infinite-dimensional reality, ultimately on an ~upward-spiraling Indra’s-net-interconnected evolutionary trajectory that leads toward an eventual ‘Apokatastasis’—the ‘redemption of all things.’ At this level of awareness there is a perfection perceived within all phenomena. All beings are seen to be perfectly mirroring all other beings at all times. Everything that happens is the perfect reflection needed to catalyze our next steps on the path Home to God.

3. The God level: This is the level of the context, the substratum: what all experience is actually made of. The groundless ground of being. God being God. God resting as God. At this level of awareness—discovered when the ‘mystic sense’ awakens—everything is seen to be entirely made of God. The totality and finality of God’s changeless, stainless, unstoppable, loving nature is discovered to be right here right now. Both of the other levels are discovered to be entirely made of God—always already made of Source. Eternity is seen to be right here right now—a radiant presence that continuously melts and morphs into new expressions of itself while never actually altering or departing from its fundamental nature. This fundamental nature is characterized by total peace, total independence, total completion, total harmony, total mystery, total infinity, total openness, total freedom, and a total joyful embracing of all phenomena in a ‘giant bear hug’ of Divine Love.

What I have just laid out is very similar to Timothy Conway’s model—mentioned above. My main departures from him are quite subtle—such as the way we are languaging God. He refers to the first two levels as ‘relative’ and the God level as ‘absolute.’ I don’t really like this language. I would simply prefer to say that all three levels are simultaneously true and real, but the first two levels are actually entirely made of the third level. They do not have an independent reality outside of God, for God is all. They are astoundingly, heartbreakingly poetic ways God is expressing God. God has shaped his/her/its God-ness into these unbelievable stories—these unfathomable master art-works. God has incarnated as these living sculptures. God is quite literally feeling and experiencing everything along with us. And yet simultaneously God always remains simply God, resting in the “peace that surpasseth understanding.”

It should be noted that this model is ultimately just a model, and no model can actually fully contain or articulate reality. It should also be noted that within, between, and around the first two levels—depending how you frame things—there are actually infinite (sub-)levels and dimensions of reality. Reality is a ‘hyper-dimensional kaleidoscopic Rorschach blot.’ It is basically everything to everyone in every way in every space at every time—and beyond all this. There are limitless subtle flavors, vibes, possibilities, textures, stories, and experiences within reality—and each of these could be said to be its own ‘level’ or ‘dimension.’ There are numberless ways to be with reality. It is important to understand that no matter how you map it, *all* the infinite ‘levels,’ dimensions, experiences, and phenomena—anything that could ever happen or seem to happen—is ultimately entirely made of God.

I find the ‘three simultaneously-true levels’ map to be a really useful one. It captures in broad strokes a great deal of what is real, what is true, and what is most relevant for human beings.

For me, what this map points to is truly the ‘good news’—the greatest news imaginable:

We are held. We are free. All is God. God is Love. God is Peace. We can entirely trust the journey. We can heave a sacred sigh of relief. It’s all okay. All rivers eventually lead to the ocean. Heaven is real and every soul is going there. In our heart of hearts, we are always already at rest with the Father. In a profound sense, THIS-HERE-NOW is already the finish line. Simply by virtue of existing, you already won. You are the finality. You are the totality. You are the great completion. We are all sailing upon the greatest adventure imaginable. All is well.

And…

You will ~never hear a politician say ~any of this. Hah.

Nor will you hear it on the ‘news.’ Or in ‘school.’ Or from ~98% of ‘scientists’ and ‘experts.’

Maybe you’ll occasionally hear religious politicians reference the ‘soul level’ or ‘God level’ in some sense, though it will almost certainly be quite distorted. They almost certainly won’t affirm anything resembling universal salvation, or the ‘great perfection,’ or the omnipresent reality of everything being made of God—who is always resting as pure peace.

And this is quite unfortunate, considering these understandings—especially if they become experiential—are the most life-giving, liberating, heart-opening, peace-bringing things a human being can ever hear about.

It’s absolutely crucial that we place politics in this larger context.

Through the lens of this larger context of the ‘three levels,’ we can see three simultaneous truths about politics:

1. Conventional level: Politics is important. The direction of our world is vitally important. There are infinite ways to better our world, and political action is one means of doing that. Yes, there is corruption, and our systems aren’t perfect, but they’re what we’ve got—so we ought to engage. Millions of real people will be affected, depending on our policies and who is governing us.

2. Soul level: The current form of human politics is heavily co-opted by ‘dark forces.’ These non-physical forces use political theatre to ensnare humans in a trap of divisive, disempowered war-consciousness. A high degree of awareness is required if one is to engage in this political theatre in a way that is wise, useful, and life-giving. Do so if your dharma calls you to. Ultimately, no matter what happens in politics, we can trust the flow of life. All is unfolding as it is meant to, leading us Home to God. Everything that happens in politics and otherwise is giving us the reflection we currently need to learn our next lessons. Trust the process. Let go and let God.

3. God level: All events are entirely made of God. God is here right now. Therefore, we are always free to rest with/as God right now. God’s nature—which we can discover directly—provides a peace that the world cannot give. THIS-HERE-NOW is the finish line. God is already complete. Be still and know this.

When placed in this broader context, politics looks a lot different.

The broader context provides the ability to zoom out and heave a ‘sacred sigh of relief.’

Everything changes.

Note that the model still implies that we do have a responsibility to our world. This isn’t about spiritual bypassing.

Yet…

It’s all okay. No matter what happens, it’s all okay.

And this is truly a great relief.

In Sum: Final Thoughts & Key Takeaways

Phew…

This has been a long one.

We’re at ~7,800 words here.

If you’re still reading, thank you for coming on this journey with me. It has been fun and interesting to write this—to express myself and to discover more about myself and my own viewpoints.

What do I wanna leave y’all with here?

Well, I think I wanna summarize some key takeaways, but before I do that, I wanna say this:

Wisdom So Stupid It Works

There’s a principle from Jocko Willink that I love. Essentially, it goes like this (paraphrasing), in Jocko’s hyper-masculine ex-Navy SEAL voice:

You wanna get in shape?

—> Get. in. shape.

You wanna get over your ex?

—> Get. over. your. ex.

You wanna build a business?

—> Build. a. business.

Get the idea?

It might seem cheeky, self-evident, or just plain dumb, but I think there’s actually profound wisdom here.

Mankind has an endless capacity to over-complicate things.

Often times the answer is simply to do the thing.

Stop asking how to do it. Stop reading endless articles about it. Stop mentally modeling it from 8,000 angles.

And just do the damn thing.

I feel mankind’s endless over-complication tendencies are massively prevalent in the political sphere. Endless mental masturbation.

So, here’s one simple message for humanity, inspired by Jocko:

You wanna stop killing each other?

—> Stop. killing. each other.

You wanna feed the hungry?

—> Feed. the. hungry.

You wanna care for the sick?

—> Care. for. the. sick.

You wanna raise good healthy kids?

—> Raise. good. healthy. kids.

You wanna build a free, beautiful world?

—> Build. a. free. beautiful. world.

Often times, it actually is that simple.

Key Takeaways

So, what do I hope for people to take away from this short book?

Well, here are some handy-dandy numerical thang-a-langs:

1. I will not be voting in this election because I believe both options are a joke—co-opted by the same dark-magickal and ‘deep state’ forces. And I don’t believe I can predict with any accuracy which is the worse choice. I also believe the two-party system is a joke, but I would vote if I felt there was a good option. I respect your right to disagree with me and to vote for who you want.

2. There are countless other ways to vote. This piece is not at all intended to be disempowering. It’s not intended to make people feel there’s nothing they can do because the system is so corrupted and dark-magickally co-opted. There are literally infinite ways to impact this world. And impact is not nearly as linear as we have been led to believe. Read Power VS Force to understand more about this. There is so much we can do to create a more beautiful world, and it begins most fundamentally with changing ourselves—raising our awareness, training, initiating, opening our hearts to Divine Love. Focus on what you want to see more of. Serve. Build community. Create what you’d love to experience.

3. We become what we focus on. Where attention goes, energy flows. That to which we give attention and energy, enlarges. It is wise to train your focus. If we want to evolve as a species, we must learn to focus on visioning and imagining what a more beautiful world looks like. We must learn to focus on what truly matters: God, Love, Presence, Nature, Family, Community, our North Stars, our true values, our dharmic vocations, and the world our hearts truly want to create. 

4. There is ‘dark magick’ and demonic influence operating in politics and in ~all major sectors of our present world. Understand this and act accordingly. Practice energetic hygiene. Protect your energy by taking good care of yourself and setting clear boundaries. Pray. Ground your bare feet to the Earth. Visualize a light-shield around your body. In saying that many people are being demonically influenced, I’m genuinely not saying anyone is inherently bad or evil—not even the demons themselves. I believe we all share the same Loving Essence. But many are very lost and disconnected from this Essence, and we need to be honest about that. I think virtually ~all of us are affected by what I’m talking about. I don’t consider myself to be above this. In my heart of hearts I have love for everybody.

5. The ‘devil’ wants us divided. The ‘devil’ wants politics to destroy our families and drive us mad. Don’t let this happen. It is more important than ever to never let any disagreement come between you and your loved ones. Build strong families and communities. Love thy neighbor. Love thy ‘enemy.’

6. I am no ultimate authority on any of these matters. In a deep sense, I don’t know jack shit! Feel welcome to read about my most prominent historic biases, blindspots, and shadows in ‘Where Am I Full of Shit? — Part I and Part II.’ Find your own answers. Find your own truth. Your heart knows your way.

7. It is essential to place politics in a larger spiritual context. This changes everything. It’s not about bypassing the world. I am all for being fully engaged with this world and letting it crack us open into devoted heart-led service. It’s about finding more of the truth of who you are. This truth makes it much easier to exist in this world and makes you more spacious and effective in everything you do.

8. In a profound sense, all is well at all times. All is unfolding as it needs to—including politics. Everybody is fulfilling their karmic role. We can trust the process. Deep breaths. Let go and let God. We are walking each other Home.

9. God is here now. God is what all experience is made of. This moment is the finish line. There are methods to discover this directly; I have explored them in great depth in my books and on this blog. Have faith. God is with you. Be still, let go of all definitions, and feel the ever-fresh presence of now.

All right, family, that sums it up.

We’re at 9,100 words—yowza!

If anyone is still reading to this point, you’re a champion and I hope you’ll leave a comment and let me hear any reflections from your beautiful heart-mind.

I hope this has been useful or valuable in some way for you.

I wish the best for you.

I wish the best for all beings in all worlds.

I wish the best for Gaia.

I am praying for the soul of America.

God be with us.

Amen.

Love,
Jordan

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Epilogue: Am I Actually Gonna Change My Mind and Vote, Though?

As I mentioned in the intro, something might be shifting for me the past few days…

Primarily as a result of watching videos like these with people on Trump’s team:

1. RFK Jr’s understanding of the public health crisis in America is quite stunning and eye-opening:

2. Tulsi Gabbard on the decline of the Democratic Party and who actually runs the US government:

The fact that RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard are on Trump’s team—and that he has said he’s going to rely on them to help him select other members of his team—is quite a data point for me. Trump has even now adopted a new mantra, “Make America Healthy Again,” signifying his alliance with RFK Jr. and intent to address America’s chronic disease epidemic. I don’t fully align with RFK Jr.—especially on the Israel-Palestine conflict, for example—but if you listen to the man speak, it’s hard to deny that this is actually a man of principle, integrity, and fierce commitment to serve America’s children.

And Tulsi Gabbard—someone I didn’t know about till just a few days ago—is truly a woman worth paying attention to. Like RFK Jr., she is an ex-Democrat who left the party due to noticing how intensely corrupted, warmongering, anti-free-speech, and anti-democratic it has ironically become. When I listen to this woman speak, I feel she is a true leader. She radiates dignity, honor, clarity, honesty, and a real commitment to service. I resonate with most everything I’ve heard her say. And she convincingly argues that Trump actually is far less beholden to the warmongering ‘establishment’ than the Democrats. She and RFK Jr. feel quite clear-eyed and ~largely free of dark-magickal influence.

[Note: After listening to more words by RFK Jr. and Gabbard—especially their speech at a recent Michigan rally—I feel less gung-ho about these two. I still like them but I also saw signs of them engaging in dishonest, distortive, fear-based political rhetoric.]

Trump has also now stated that Elon Musk will be assisting his administration as a ‘Secretary of Cost-Cutting.’ I don’t resonate with Elon’s transhumanist ambitions, but no one can deny that he is incredible at downsizing bloated organizations. And the ginormous ~$35-trillion-in-debt US government bureaucracy could certainly use a downsizing. This could be a huge win for government efficiency in the US.

[Note: This recent essay about Musk as ‘King of the Dark Enlightenment’ provides plenty of fascinating food for thought.]

The fact that Trump is putting together this caliber of a team—and the fact that having these people on his team makes it more likely that any of them could become a future US president—is actually compelling me to consider voting for his team. Not for him, per se—though technically yeah, I would be voting for him—but for his team. I want Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to have more influence in Washington. It seems that Charles Eisenstein has reached a similar conclusion. I’ve heard Charles, RFK Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard assert that Trump is actually much more of a ‘team player’ than he often seems, and that he is genuinely open to their help and ideas—actively curious and asking good questions. Gabbard goes into this in this video:

With all that being said though, I woke up this morning and had the feeling that there is something a little too “neat and tidy” about the narrative that Gabbard and RFK Jr. are now pushing.

They claim that the Democrats are now fully corrupt and tyrannical whereas the Republicans have now become the party of peace, freedom, health, prosperity, and the working poor.

With a little honest research, it’s easy to poke holes in this narrative: Trump’s violent (~genocide-promoting) stance on Israel-Palestine is not the stance of a “party of peace.” Trump has also stated that he would have “bombed Moscow and Beijing” if they had made recent moves of theirs while he was still in office. His tax cuts for corporates and rich people during his last term are not the actions of a champion of the working class. He doesn’t talk at all about raising taxes for the mega-wealthy or cracking down on their tax-evasion schemes (which he himself ~likely engaged in a lot in his life). His poor character and attacking temperament are the ~opposite of a man who demonstrates true inner health and peace. His promise to ‘crack down’ on “Free Palestine” protestors—and his parties’ oft-unwillingness to let gay people be fully and openly themselves—are not indicative of a true commitment to freedom of speech and expression.

Gabbard and RFK Jr. genuinely seem like honorable people. To be fair, I’ve also felt like Democratic VP candidate Tim Walz seems like a decent guy. Yet, these people are still politicians, and as such, they may have a very hard time admitting that the entire American political enterprise is morally bankrupt beyond belief. Good people want to believe they can make a difference somewhere, but the political game may be so compromised that it’s next to impossible to not become (unconsciously) deluded-distorted-puppeteered by ‘the machine.’

I don’t know. I guess we’ll see what happens.

I’m curious to see if I end up voting, though to be honest, it’s still looking unlikely at this point. I’d give it about a 4% chance.

I will say that I am now leaning tentatively toward a belief that the Republicans are a better choice—even though I still hold the view that no one can possibly accurately predict the long-term effects either way. Especially with a wild card like Trump in the mix.

Thanks for reading this epilogue.

Peace and love.

God Bless,
JB

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Beyond Politics: Actual Magic, Breaking Curses, & the Path to a New Reality

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P.S. One last important thing: Love is the answer. Here’s playful music video I made a few years ago expressing all-encompassing UNIVERSAL LOVE for Donald Trump and all other beings:

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