As the final day of the election approaches, there is an increasing barrage of requests for financial support. “The opponents are raising more money than we are. We need to keep up. Special interest groups are buying the election.”

I understand the apprehension behind these requests. I understand it takes money to buy TV time, print ads, mailers, etc., but it makes me sad that it seems that the candidate who can raise the most money wins. It really appears that the position of president of this country can be bought.

I dislike the apparent control that money, its acquisition and expenditure, has on our lives in this culture. Instead of a means, it has become the end itself. With its acquisition we equate power and influence, and those of us without it are pushed aside as inconsequential. Since we don’t have the medium of power, our thoughts have no power. Our wishes and dreams can be ignored. Unless we can buy the attention of others, we are overlooked. What we think, say, write can be ignored because without power and influence (money) our very thoughts are meaningless.

On the other hand, with money, our simple-minded rhetoric carries great weight. Witness our current president. I can’t remember the last time I heard him say anything intelligent. And the words he does say are essentially meaningless or so filled with untruth and vitriol as to be given no credibility. Take away his money and the money of his backers, and he’d have a hard time holding a day worker’s job. I look at the landscape maintenance workers in our neighborhood and see persons with more integrity and credibility than Trump could possibly muster. And yet he is elevated to the highest political position in this country.

That makes me sad. Funny how the thoughts we attend to control the emotions and physiological and psychological well-being. I think it’s time for a meditation.

Peace! Please!