I have a white plastic band that reminds me to “be love.” Sometimes I experience this as inspiration, sometimes as admonishment. The opposite of love is not only hate. The opposite of love can be simply lack. I recently heard someone define God as “the lack of lack.” Every time I am making my choices in the world from a position of lack, I am out of alignment with love.
Today I am reminded that the universal public programs that Senator Bernie Sanders campaigns for are an expression of love and hope rather than fear and lack. By treating healthcare, childcare, higher education, housing and a living wage as human rights rather than something that we aspire to do once there’s enough money, Bernie Sanders and the millions who support him, choose to govern from love, inclusion and abundance.
Back in June of 2019 I evaluated each major candidate for the Democratic nomination for president on two major criteria: 1) ability to use the power of their word to win, and 2) likelihood of actually governing from shared values of love, ethics and inclusion. Like it or not, Donald Trump is one of the most effective public figures at understanding and using the power of his word. To beat him, it will require someone equally powerful with their word.
Back then I found that the top three Democrats at ability to beat Donald Trump by using the power of their word were Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris (Harris has since dropped out). Of those two, I rated Pete Buttigieg low among Democrats in likelihood of governing from shared values of love, ethics and inclusion based on his history, see Buttigieg and Power of His Word. In contrast I rated Elizabeth Warren very high on the likelihood of governing from shared values of love, ethics and inclusion and relatively low on ability to use the power of her word.
