I know I’m treading on thin ice here, but despite the highly charged subject, these questions come to me for a reason. Be gentle.

Channeling Transcript

Me: So, Erik, you used to be on the conservative side, politically, when you were here. You weren’t liberal at all. So what about now?

Erik: Can you define conservative in the way you see it?

Me: Well, I’m definitely not defining it as Republican!

Erik: Okay.

Me: So, you want me to share my views first?  You sort of adopted them when you were here, but of course we didn’t force it down your throat. I guess I just want to see if you changed your perspective.

Erik: Yeah, tell me your views first, then I’ll tell you how I see things now.

Me: Okay, well, like I said, I’m NOT a Republican. I’m very against big corrupt groups like some big corporations, some unions, big government and groups of the corrupt political elite, big corporate lobbyists, and other groups that buy favors for votes to upset the balance of power.

Erik: Okay.

Me: I believe in INDIVIDUAL freedom and responsibility, so I’m also against buying votes with entitlement programs that are vulnerable to greed and corruption. I mean, we have to help those who can’t help themselves, of course, but when we extend help to those who can but WON’T help themselves, we can’t give enough assistance to those who are truly suffering and in need. I’m against redistribution of wealth from the producers to the non-producers (except those who are disabled or who need temporary help when they’ve been knocked down.)  I guess what I’m saying is that there’s a difference between people who can’t work and those who won’t work. In my mind, that upsets the karmic balance—I hate to use the word karma, but I don’t know what else to use. It’s just enslaving to people to give them just enough to subsist when they are capable of thriving on their own, and like I said, then that takes away what we can do to help those who are truly in need either temporarily or permanently.  It’s a challenge to root out the fraud, but I think some of the programs are set up so  that it’s easy for people to game system. You know what I mean?

Erik: Yeah.

Me: Same thing with affirmative action or any other program where the government decides who the winners and losers are. This also causes a lot of karmic imbalance. It sends the message that we don’t have faith in people to rise on their own merits, and we don’t have faith in the community to help their neighbors and friends anymore. Also, it creates division, like it highlights differences between races and so it strengthens the separation illusion. We’re all one, after all. Um, so I’m kind of for giving more control to the local governments and to the individual so we can keep local leaders and each other more accountable. The federal government is so far away, we feel powerless to change things or to keep them honest. And I don’t believe throwing money at people is the answer. We need to give them a hand up, not a hand out. We need to treat them with compassion, not pity and with faith, not  a sense of scorn and hopelessness. You know what I mean? We need to empower them, not enslave them in permanent victimhood. That’s so demoralizing. And it unfairly penalizes those who work really hard, get an education, take a risk or a leap of faith to produce a good or service for others. Then they get so much taken away as taxes, because there is so much fraud in the entitlement programs. It irks me when someone in the projects gets a new tattoo or piercing or buys a flat screen TV even though they’re more than able to work and support themselves.

Erik: I could not love you more than I love you right now.

I laugh.

Erik: But like you said, there are people who will always need our help and are never going to get by without our support.

Me: Exactly. And imagine how much more we could give them in way of support if so many others weren’t gaming the system.

Erik: So when are you running for office?

Me: Ha! Never. I’d be assassinated in the first week. It’s like we have faith in big corruption and not the individual anymore. It’s sad.

(Pause)

Me: So are you conservative, moderate, liberal, or are you none of the above because, well, maybe you think there is no right or wrong form of government?

Erik: Well, that’s a loaded question, Mom. You’re right, things ARE. They’re neither right nor wrong. You know, it is, it is. But at the same time, you can’t just BE. You can’t just have “it is what it is” when there are so many underlying structures shaping the outcome.

Me: Oh yeah. Uh huh.

Erik: And those underlying structures, that’s what we’re talking about here in this conversation. That where it’s going wrong. So, no, I’m not for, “give it all back to the big guy to see what he can do with it.” I’m not for big government, liberal or otherwise.

Me: Yeah, on both sides, Democrats and Republicans, there are politicians who want more government mostly to buy votes. But let’s face it, it’s unsustainable. We can’t afford it. We’re teetering on economic collapse which is pretty much how all empires throughout history toppled.

Erik: No, it needs to go right back to the people, and one thing we’ve been raped of is respect. Just like you said, (unintelligible) couldn’t be any better getting a hand out instead of a hand up.

Me: Yeah.

Erik: And that has to come with respect. But with a larger government structure, they’re just looking for the equation that’s gonna fit the masses rather than the individual. It’s easier to paint everybody with the same broad brush, but really, everybody’s needs are so unique. It’s bullshit. It’s the easy way out and it robs so many of their self-respect.

Me: Plus, I think that when the government and these entitlement programs get so big, we individuals feel like we’re off the hook. When someone in our community falls on hard times, we figure, “Well, I don’t need to help. Uncle Sam will do that.” So it sort of takes away our sense of responsibility to help each other out, to help our neighbors, you know?

Erik: It’s choking out humanity is what it’s doing. You know, “Let’s look at the system instead of the humanity.”

Me: Yeah.

Erik: So we are more cocooned and isolated from each other.

Me: Yeah, that whole separation illusion just gets more and more engrained.

Erik: It’s real depressing.

Me: I know.

Erik: It IS crashing, it IS falling. The first battle is done; that was with the banks, but the battle that’s here now is with healthcare, and no good answer has been brought to the table. What’s so sad is how they’re not looking at other countries and how their system is working or not working. It’s total ego crap.

Me: Yeah, I don’t think what we have is the answer. It’s still too big and doesn’t address the horrific costs. So, what about Libertarians? What do you think about them being so laissez-faire? Are they just too far off the reservation?

Jamie laughs.

Jamie: He’s doing a gesture where he has his left hand out, and he’s just pushing it away and away and away so far, you can’t even see.

Me: Left? Okay, I don’t know everything about them, but I do know they’re for not getting involved in the foreign affairs of others, legalizing all drugs, limiting federal government, having less regulation, simplifying the tax code. They’re for leaving a lot more up to the individual. In their minds, the government should be about protecting our property, our rights, our safety, building and maintaining infrastructures, helping us create a healthy environment so we can sustain ourselves and make a decent living so we can produce for ourselves and others, and of course helping those who can’t help themselves. But that’s it. No legislating morality and behavior and all that.

Erik: One of the best things about them is not wanting to get involved in foreign conflicts. What happened is that the United States became this father figure poking its nose in everyone’s business. We can’t be the police force for the whole world. And it’s arrogant to think that democracy should be forced down throats when sometimes it really won’t work in certain countries. We’re in the wrong place many, many times.

Me: Really! I mean, why in the world did we have to get involved in Libya? If anything,  we should air drop food, clothing, and medical supplies to the citizens, but not bombs.

Erik: That’s why we need to create a group to meditate only on a peaceful and understanding government. If we turn our backs on the government because we don’t like what they’re doing, it’s not going to go away. They’re going to get bigger and meaner. We need to go forward into that dark night.

Me: Aw, my sweet poet.

Erik: We need to give positive reinforcement: peaceful, smooth and balanced.

Me: Yeah, balanced more to the side of the individual instead of the government, to the side of compassion and respect instead of slavery and fear and bombs. Erik, you can be the president. Never mind being the first woman president, you’d be the first discarnate president! I wonder if you’d have to come up with your birth certificate or your death certificate?

Erik and Jamie laugh.

Me: Okay, enough politics. This is going to get me in big enough trouble, but I know that the universe puts that into my mind for a reason, so it has to be done.

Erik: Yep.