Succession, the Supreme Court, and Unchecked Power
Scream-Crying Our Way Through Capitalism
Folks have been swinging into summer, with travel, sunshine, and lots of getting together. And at the same time, we’re all continuing to see and experience the stress of witnessing our national institutions support the interests of the most powerful. The anxiety of all this takes its toll, even where we see strides towards accountability, like prosecutions against the former president. No wonder we’re all seeking sunshine and collective distraction.
Social Impact Insights: Making Our Own Pile (Together)
One of our shared obsessions these past few months has been the end of the HBO series Succession. I’ve been watching since Season 1, when my husband Jeff got me hooked in the first few episodes. Like a lot of people, I found all the characters loathsome, but couldn’t look away. I can summarize the bulk of my commentary in this equation:
Generational Wealth x Generational Trauma = Compelling High Art
There was something about seeing a stark portrayal of massive wealth, emotional abuse/neglect, and the striving of a newcomer/immigrant to the United States (Logan) compared to the striving of his entitled and entirely-too-soft-to-succeed adult children (Kendall, Shiv, Roman, and I shall not forget Connor like his family so often does). The line from the photo above about the Roy kids not being “serious people” resonated across the internet.
I realize this makes me sound completely naive, but I was always confused as to why the kids thought their opinions mattered so much, when they were so out of touch and ineffectual. It took me a while to realize that it was their being so out of touch and being cloaked in unimaginable wealth and access to power that was exactly what enabled them to glide in and out of every room as if their ideas mattered.
I always hoped to see some combination of Gerri, Marcia, Frank, Karolina, Hugo, and Karl leading the company at the end. Smart, experienced, and pragmatic survivors who had lived real lives and had taken real risks as they worked actual jobs. But my take on the finale is that Lukas Matsson will sell the company for its parts over the next few years. So no one person actually “succeeded” (not sure that’s a word), even as they all won, given how much money most of the characters made in the sale of the company.
And that to me was the ultimate message of Succession: Money. Always. Wins. Unless the rest of us keep rising together to advocate for ourselves and to be partners in substantial coalition-building that leverages the power of collective organizing. One of the things I always remind myself and others of is the reality that we are all living in the same capitalist hellscape.
Our only solution is what I call “Bet on Yourself | Bet on Us.” At this moment in history, we can’t rely on institutions to take care of us, so we have to bet on ourselves. Of course we all advocate for ourselves individually, day in and day out. And most of us also proactively support others in advocating for themselves. We all need to lean into this muscle more, as it creates a collective mobilization for all of us together that raises the bar and the standard of what we expect for ourselves as a community.
It’s this collective betting on all of us together that makes a meaningful difference. It’s not a new idea, but it’s more urgent than it’s been in a long time. Logan’s exhorting his kids to “Make your own pile” hit me as a sharp reminder that the rest of us need to make our own collective pile. I always say in my work with clients that we are laying the foundation for the next 50 years. We have to come together and find solutions that encourage us to meet across our different interests, and understand that the 99% of us have much more in common with each other, and more to gain by sticking together and investing in each other, than we do in fighting over the scraps that the top 1% throw at us.
And this is where the Supreme Court comes in. This term did hold the line on one aspect of voting rights, which is a relief. But mostly we see a Court that will push as far as it can in the interest of power, even in the face of credible charges on ethics and on intellectual dishonesty. While this is exhausting and scary, I see a spark that can inspire us. At this point, the Supreme Court has absolutely overplayed its hand. Chief Justice Roberts is gnashing his teeth over the public perception that the Court has no legitimate core to lead it in the aftermath of its recent decisions on abortion, gun safety, and corporate power. And now, in the past few weeks, we have seen from this Court even more decisions that undermine our culture, on issues of LGBTQ+ rights, affirmative action, indigenous communities (specifically the Navajo Nation), and student loan relief.
Once again, people are feeling unmoored by all of this. Cultural moments like this are deeply painful and exhausting, and yet they offer us new openings. Building on innovative solutions, throwing out what hasn’t been working, organizing together, creating new and stronger coalitions, and demanding accountability are powerful collective forces. Especially when these institutions overplay their hand and we say enough is enough. The more we recognize our own humanity in each other, and coalesce around our shared needs and hopes, the more we will sideline the institutions that offer only a baseline of protection and refuse to offer any kind of affirmative protection of our shared future.
Surf Synthesis: Laughing in the Water
One of these days, I’ll learn to remember that there is a huge difference between super-cold and mildly-cold water. It’ll give me hope. Summer in Rockaway has offered chilly but not cold water, and you can see the difference in my smile above. Over the course of the winter, I lose sight of the fact that conditions are much more difficult. I forget that this is not my baseline. As the water has warmed even a tiny bit, I’ve found myself going after and catching bigger waves. Not always nailing the landing, but being in the wave in a meaningful way. My most recent paddle-outs have found me laughing in the water, giggling with other surfers in the water, and just getting lost in the joy of being out there in that salty ocean goodness. The main message here is to revel in the determination to keep coming back to the thing you love, because as much as it might disappoint or scare you, eventually it will reward you too, and that is more than enough.
Tarot Inspiration: The 5 of Swords
Any of the 5s could have worked for this one. The 5s are the cards of conflict, of a break in the relationship, of everything falling apart, and of a deep need for renewal and a re-set. Jeremy Strong, the actor who portrays Kendall Roy in Succession, called the final vote (and the sibling fight in which it played out) “an extinction-level event” for his character. I felt it for him. That night after watching the series finale, I literally had bad dreams about Kendall all night. That’s how much I felt for his character in his grief and loss, as much as I believed that the vote freed him to move into a new chapter of his life: I want to imagine Kendall the Philanthropist. Kendall the Music Mogul, and Kendall the Champion of the New New Media, in all his messy glory.
The Swords are the suite of logic, intellect, the courts, and the rule of law. I always think of the swords, at their worst, as speaking to the invisible powers of authority that rule us without us even knowing who they are. The Supreme Court and its wave of rulings is very much reflected here.
And yet the good news is, the 5s are the mid-way point. They leave us so much room to be creative and iterative in our next steps. At some point, all of us have to learn when it’s time to put the individual sword down, and move on from a fight that’s personal to us, to something that’s bigger and more meaningful.
So as much as the recent wave of Supreme Court rulings have you feeling unbalanced, let’s focus on our collective organizing power and our ability to support each other during these times. (As with Kendall of Succession) let’s remember, we’ve got lots more game to play.
Very appreciate for our current social and political situation!
Thank you! Yes, we all need some inspiration right now!❤️🔥