Embedded
I spent much of 1977 “embedded” in American politics. After working for the Carter/Mondale campaign in 1976, I went to Washington, DC in January to attend the inauguration, then to study at American University. As part of my program, I also worked in Congressman Tom Luken’s (D-Cincinnati) office, first as a legislative intern, then later as a staff scheduler. After a spring semester immersed in Government, I came home to Cincinnati for the summer, now working at Luken’s local office. My job: to organize the Congressman’s schedule, by the half-hour, from 7am to 9pm for every moment he was in town, and then, to accompany him to many of those events.
I learned a lot about Government, and about politics in that year. I also learned a lot about working for a “difficult” boss. Luken’s reputation as “tough” was well earned. I can say this: over that summer, other than one senior staffer, I was fired “the least”. But that first time was a shock. A United States Congressman was screaming and swearing on the phone, saying I was done. Then, the next day, that same Congressman screamed and swore at me again, because I wasn’t at work. The Cincinnati Democratic “rite of passage” of working for Luken taught me to have a thicker skin, and a more elaborate vocabulary.
Star Wars
Any distraction that summer of ‘77 was welcome. So one night, I loaded the neighbor kids into my 1967 Volkswagen Squareback, and headed to the movies. There was a new space saga on that everyone was talking about, called “Star Wars”. If you now watch what is called “The New Hope”, it doesn’t have quite the luster it had back in “the day”. Special effects have come a long way in forty-seven years, much of the progress made by Star Wars creator George Lucas and his company, Industrial Light and Magic. But in 1977 it was almost overwhelming on the big screen. We had no idea that it would become embedded on our culture for a half-century, but we did fall in love with the characters from the very first.
And we learned the mystic traditions and powers of the Jedi, and the Force. Our first example was when Jedi Knight Obi Wan Kenobi was able to direct Imperial Stormtroopers away from the hero, Luke Skywalker, and his “droids”.
- Obi Wan: (with a small wave of his hand) – You don’t need to see his identification
- Stormtrooper: We don’t need to see his identification
- Obi Wan: These aren’t the droids you’re looking for
- Stormtrooper: These aren’t the droids were looking for
- Obi Wan: He can go about his business
- Stormtrooper: You can go about your business
- Obi Wan: Move along
- Stormtrooper: Move along, move along.
It was our first exposure to “Jedi Mind Tricks”. And from that moment on the screen, the term “Jedi Mind Tricks” entered our vocabulary. It means, getting folks to ignore something that’s in plain sight.
One final memory from that first exposure to Star Wars. Driving home in my four-speed Volkswagen with the kids, there might have been some “X-Wing Starfighter” maneuvers. No laws were broken, but we weren’t going to get blown up by any “Tie-Fighters” on Springfield Pike either!
Covid
In fact, “mind tricks” are so common today, we might not even realize they’re happening. Two entire historic events, are “disappeared” from our collective memory; “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for”. And that creates a direct impact on our political decisions today.
The first event is the Covid pandemic. It was only three and a half years ago, but we have collectively “disappeared” it from our memories. Part of the reason; we didn’t get to publicly mourn the losses. Like our memory, the dead in Covid literally disappeared – we couldn’t say goodbye, go to a funeral, or gather friends and families for comfort. Another reason is that we were isolated, individually or in small family groups; cut off from jobs or friends. Much of our “connection” was through screens (I virtually taught 120 kids a day). But we discovered that virtual wasn’t the same as real; it was too easy to just “move along, move along”.
Four Years Ago
When campaigns ask are we better now than we were four years ago, the answer is, “of course we are”. Four years ago, Donald Trump had Covid, and was whisked to Walter Reed Hospital for experimental treatments. Four years ago gas prices were low, because people still couldn’t go places or do things. But, four years ago the unemployment rate was almost 7%; 11 million Americans were unable to find work.
Some candidates for office are depending on this “Jedi Mind Trick”. They want us to remember the before-Covid times, without the “payback” of the year and a half we all lost in our lives (and more) because of Covid. Why is that? So that we don’t give any credit to those who came into office and brought the Nation to recovery from the Covid recession. The United States had the best recovery from Covid in the world. Yes, prices went up. But Americans have jobs, they have goods and services, they regained their lives and their friendships. And we did it without the economic depression that most economists saw as inevitable.
January 6th
And now, politicians like Republican Vice Presidential Candidate JD Vance are asking us to re-write another memory of that era; the January 6th, 2021, insurrection. The picture he paints is of a “peaceful protest” by justified Americans, demanding that a stolen election be returned. He wants us to see his candidate, Donald Trump, as blameless for the mob that descended on the Capitol and threatened to kill Vice President Pence and Speaker Pelosi. He wants us to “move along, move along” to the future, as his Party lays the same groundwork for insurrection that they laid at the end of 2020.
They want us to not believe “our lying eyes”. We are to see hooligans as patriots, and those that schemed to overthrow our Constitution as heroes. If they can convince us of that, then we can easily elect the schemers and ignore the real patriots who saved our Republic. And the final “mind trick”. Democrats don’t like Trump. Two people have tried to kill Trump because they don’t like him. Therefore, the assassins must be Democrats. Trump is a martyr, a victim, to be glorified. Democrats are the “hooligans”, willing to go to any length to stop Trump.
After watching all of the Star Wars saga, we learned that the Force can be used by both evil and good, but that the “dark side” ultimately doesn’t win out. It’s always a choice, between dark and light; with dark side offering immediate rewards, and the light usually longer term gains. And like the Saga, we are asked to make a choice now. As we make that decision, don’t fall for “Jedi Mind Tricks”. We cannot ignore the past with a “small wave of his hand”. We must see it all; then we can decide.
