Weatherman #2: Finding Clarity in Political Chaos

Dylan Ratigan

"Welcome to the second edition of The Weatherman. I am Dylan Ratigan and this is an ongoing and evolving experiment in a direct conversation between all of us about anything that we want to talk about, as long as it's through the frame of The Shift. The Shift ultimately represents complete and total change in not just our technological infrastructure, not just our communication infrastructure, even our transportation infrastructure. It's a unifying event and a completely shattering event, all at the same time, that comes with incredible darkness, loneliness and isolation, as well as incredible opportunity for creation and development, and you see it play out in personal lives constantly. We see in our own lives. We see it the lives of those around us, and it also plays out in incredible ways before our very eyes on the biggest stage possible. The Shift is an interesting dynamic because as intimate as it may be for each of us, it is also something that we are witnessing in the global political world and the global climate situation that we're all navigating or at least internalizing, and for that matter, in the way that we both perceive and misperceive events around the world. The premise or the theme that we talk about a lot is “Chaos and Clarity.” The Shift creates a lot of both. In fact, you look no further than the American political system to see the complete and utter emergence of chaos. Not just in the way that this country is run, but the very basis upon which we are even attempting to run our country. I'll talk about it because it's in the center of the news cycle right now. The criticisms that have existed from America projected into the world in the way that both American political power and American political institutions judge and condemn and shame and sanction other countries for their political behavior, their political systems, their backroom deals, their inability to seem to function in some way that is honorable, decent, has integrity or any other positive value associated with it is obviously deeply ironic, in this particular moment, as the Democratic primary caucus process, their candidate selection process, opens with the inability to count 172-thousand votes. What could be more emblematic of the collapse and the darkness, if you will, of The Shift than what we're seeing happening in the Iowa caucus right now? For a long time, and even as I ran for Congress myself two years ago, there has been a tremendous amount of criticism for those who have disengaged from the American political process. A lot of shaming for those who have disengaged from the American political process, and yet, when you look at the American political process, the percentage of Americans that are even registered as Democrats, 20 to 25% of the population, the percentage of the population that is even registered as a Republican, 20 to 25% population, leaves literally the largest percentage of American voters as those who are neither Democrats or Republicans. In fact, the biggest voting block in any election is people who don't vote. When you look at the history of American politics, it wasn't always this way. There was a time when American politics actually was at least perceived to have some integrity..." Listen to the podcast to hear what else Dylan has to say about the Democratic primary and The Shift. Several callers discuss how they are dealing with societal and personal problems in constructive ways that support their communities. If you want to call into the show to speak with Dylan, send us a voice message here, please leave your phone number so our producers can call you to get you live on air: https://anchor.fm/weatherman/message