dlmCommentary

What will be the deciding factor in the neck 'n neck presidential election of 2004? So many people have been spending so much energy saying so many of the same old slogans to so many habitual "undecideds” that a lot of really important stuff has got to be getting lost in the rhetorical shuffle.

Possibility #1. The election will be decided on issues and substance (if "our" guy wins)
Possibility #2. The election will be decided on charming deception (if "their" guy wins)

Those are the two main schools of thought. Here's another, one that gets virtually no attention at all in the world of public policy hype. This election, as well as several if not all previous ones, might just be decided by - please! I beg for your brief indulgence - spirits.

That word usually hides more han it shows because, like the words flu and religion, it has too many possible definitions. It appears in front of liquor stores, as in "Wine and Spirits." It is heard at high school pep rallies, which are now called "spirit rallies." Or we hear that someone has a lot of "spirit," as in spunk or energy. Then of course, there are the TV preachers with their Holy and various unholy spirits. But what possible place do spirits have in presidential politics?

There are some provocative common threads in the examples just offered. The boozer becomes, in various combinations, looser, sillier, angrier, less bothered, more confident and eventually, sleepy. Significantly, the condition is not simply physical, emotional or intellectual. The effect of drinking alcohol is what we might call a wholistic one. Alcohol gets to your essence, wherever that is. We might say that alcohol changes one's "spirit" - one’s indefinable center of gravity. That is why it is called a spirit. To drink it is to, let us say, invite in a new spirit, perhaps along with a new year.

Likewise with a pep rally; what is going on there? Through various chants, called cheers, mildly ritualistic bodily movements, and inspirational speeches, students drum up a sort of group identity and group focus which motivates them to action, which often has something to do with defeating the other team (!). Much of the affect is conscious and planned, but as with alcohol, there is a great deal going on beneath the surface as well. Though pep rallies are usually harmless, it is worth noting that, down through history, similar behaviors have sometimes created volatile mobs.

In short , the affect is not unlike that produced by alcohol, except that the energies or forces are of a different kind. Still, the general tone of the psyche is changed: thoughts are gathered and focused in a certain direction, strong feelings are stirred, and certain inhibitions are dispensed with.

With all that in mind, here is a possible contemporary definition for the word spirit, one that accounts for the whole range of nuanced meaning, whether referring to alcohol, pep rallies, energetic children, TV preachers or psychologists.

Spirits are any of various powerful, largely subconscious attitudes or impulses within people that, crossing ordinary physical, psychological or social boundaries, express themselves inevitably in one’s behavior.

What will decide the election? The answer might just have something to do with spirits. The election of a president does not seem to be all that rational or conscious a process - for anyone. If it is so rational, why do most people say they hate negative campaigning when the professionals know negative campaigning “works”? Why would it be so important, as it clearly is, for media types to repeat the same talking points over and over again long after we can repeat them in our sleep? How could there be so many undecided voters when the two candidates seem so diametrically opposed? What makes otherwise normal people stand in the rain on freeway overpasses, waving and holding up signs, when all of us, no matter who we vote for, always end up disillusioned a year later? How can we get so excited about lawyers, who we despise and ridicule on a daily basis, just because they want to run for office and become even more unaccountable?

Without our conscious participation, we are imbibing some mysterious booze; we are surrounding ourselves with some covert pep rally. Is there a better way to explain the most disturbing fact of every election season - that with almost no thought at all, most of us are automatically certain that our own point of view is best, yet all we know of the other side are the usual over-simplifications, half-truths and bogeymen. Would we allow ourselves such blatant stupidity in any other area of our lives (not including sex)?

It's not a conspiracy, not in the usual sense of the term, because everyone - everyone - is being fooled by it. Through our choice of television shows, films, magazines, websites, books, music, school and church, through our chosen friends and social environments and workplaces - we are each spirited in some relentless direction.

Everything else is just the necessary habitual distraction we call our daily lives.

Copyright © 2004 Donald L. McIntyre All Rights Reserved