In the week before the US election we finally do an episode where we talk about American politics and how it fits into this larger conversation about what it means if we’re living in a time of great humbling.

‘Jeopardy’ was originally used in the 14th century in chess and other games to denote a problem, or a position in which the chances of winning or losing were evenly balanced. It’ss the exposure to or imminence of death, loss, or injury. The danger that an accused person is subjected to when on trial for a criminal offense...

We reminisce about 2016, the Brexit vote, Trump, being ‘election junkies’ and where we were when we were ‘up for Portillo’. 

Dougald talks about Anthony Barnett & Adam Ramsay piece at openDemocracy – ‘Behind Trump’s lies is a hard truth about the US – and under Biden’s truths is a lie.’ And Ta-Nehisi Coates’ related argument a year or so after Trump’s election in ‘The First White President’ – what defines Trump’s voters isn’t that they are downtrodden, but that they are white.

Followed up with an extraordinary blog by Anne Amnesia, The Unnecessariat – https://morecrows.wordpress.com/2016/05/10/unnecessariat/:

“From where I live, the world has drifted away. We aren’t precarious, we’re unnecessary. The money has gone to the top. The wages have gone to the top. The recovery has gone to the top. And what’s worst of all, everybody who matters seems basically pretty okay with that.”

Dougald talks about ‘when the maps run out’ his letter from three days after the 2016 election – http://dougald.nu/when-the-maps-run-out/ 

Ed shares the post he wrote at the same time: https://www.facebook.com/ed.gillespie.58/posts/10154636686287629.

Dougald refers to a piece he wrote called ‘Is there hope?’ https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2019/11/28/notes-from-underground-3-is-there-hope/ – 

Ed talks about the ‘embodiment’ he experienced at the Findhorn New Story Summit, and on a ‘Mundis Imaginalis’ course at Schumacher

Dougald references Vanessa Andreotti talking about Bolsonaro in Dec 2018 – “a lot depends on whether people feel that the promises [of modernity] were broken, or whether they see that these were false promises all along”

Ed asks How’s your jeopardy Umair Haque? “Our Civilization is Now Reaching an Omega Point — the Point of Irreversible Collapse” https://eand.co/this-is-the-dawn-of-the-age-of-collapse-a3d4072d5a62 

And we wrap up with some pontifications and an inevitable prediction...