Slowly yet surely, step by step, (there is an old movie scene here I think) I see the eyes opening

 

On the online website: ”Salon” there is this article written by Brian Karem titled “GOP is finally running out of people to blame”.

Now Salon is a left leaning publication and most of this article deals with the failure of Trump and the Republicans. Mr. Karem picks apart the Trump administration and the Republicans in general for the various madness they are subjecting the country. You can like this or not like this based on which side of the coin you land.

What was significant to me is Mr. Karem made some interesting statements.  The first statement is:

“…..Who do you think the American public will listen to? The GOP’s pitch was, roughly speaking, that they could use extreme methods to take care of the cleanup on aisle seven. They have obviously failed. Now other folks are making the same claim from the opposite side of the court. I remain skeptical that any political party in this country can affect real and lasting positive change. They’re too busy demonizing each other, …..”

So even others with normally a side to support are realizing the truth I speak regularly. And to finish the article he states:

“These midterms promise to be fun: the old and befuddled far right versus the young and arrogant far left, vying for attention and a chance to feed at the public trough.”

Now this is not what I call the Democrats and Republicans, however he recognizes neither side truly represents us and is more attuned to power than working on what the people need. 

Mr. Karem states to make his points about the Republicans that the paint is peeling, to me he shows us in a small way the paint is peeling on both parties ineptitude to govern anymore.

Cheers

Here is a short story I am working on, please let me know your thoughts and if where I am is recognizable

 

                                                               Did I miss my exit?                                             

 

I parked in a parking lot, for maybe a business. I step out of the car or I feel I do. It is late in the afternoon of a fall day. There are leaves all over the parking lot. There are other cars and maybe some people there, but I don’t feel comfortable especially with the people, yet I cannot put a finger on as to why or exactly where they are in the parking lot. Or are they over by the business or in their cars? When did I stop?

Again, the parking lot is full of leaves, all drenched in bland fall colors, not the bright oranges and yellows you want to see, more of a dull orange or dull light brown. I looked up and the trees were the same way. The canopy of trees is thick so not much sunlight is getting through. All around the parking lot are trees blocking any direct sunlight from reaching the ground. I look over and not sure if the one-story small building I thought I saw still existed. Did I see one?

I continue to look around. Off to one side of the parking lot is a small ravine and then on the other side is a hill that goes up. Due to the trees, I cannot see how far the hill goes up. I think about walking over to the ravine to get a better look, yet just stood still looking at the ravine. It has me fixated for a moment, but for how long I cannot remember or did it? I can not tell.

I turned back towards where I think the business had been, yet there is something there, but now it appears to be more of a mound up against the other side of the parking lot from the ravine. There are trees standing over it and a hill going up behind it with trees going up the side of the hill so you could not see how far it went up.

Not only is the ground of the parking lot covered with leaves, so is the ground all around the parking lot. I turn around and around looking for the entrance to the parking lot or the road that led me here.

The leaves cover the ground going up the sides of the hills on either side of the parking lot. I decide I want to leave so I reached into my pocket for my keys. I cannot find my keys. I walk around or am I walking and now it seems there are less cars and the cars that are there are in states of disrepair and missing doors or other body parts. I look for the people I thought I had seen earlier or had I just felt their presence.

It still seemed like it is late in the day. I can look up through the trees and see blue sky and some light filtering through all the trees. It had that look like the sunlight isn’t directly overhead. I cannot figure which direction the sun is though. I ask myself long have I been there. It cannot be long since it is still light. I start to worry about it getting dark so I begin hunting around where I stand for my keys. I realize I cannot find my keys much less my car.

What happened to my car? I look around the parking lot and now I am not sure it is or was a parking lot. Are there any cars still here? There are leaves everywhere and some stacked high like maybe they are covering something. I look up. It is still daylight and it appears it isn’t changing. I see small amounts of sunlight filter through the trees and glimpses of blue sky through all the leaves. I start to try and figure out why the trees have all their leaves and yet there are so many on the ground. That thought did not hold long. I keep standing in the same spot trying to look for something to orientate myself. I think if I should try to climb one of the hills to get a better sense of my surroundings. For some reason I still stand here. I do not want to say I cannot or unable to walk forward or just not motivated to walk towards the ravine or any of the hills. It seems everywhere I look around there are hills covered with trees so it is hard to determine how high is each hill. All the trees have the same coloring of leaves with that dull orange or light brown. It even appeared they are all the same size, yet I cannot tell if all the trees are the same type. Well maybe some are taller than others, but that did not determine if the classification of the trees are all the same. Now that I have been here awhile, I notice everywhere around me is a forest, not too thick, but seeing off into the distance is hard or up the hills all I can see are trees.

I cannot believe what is happening to me. Yet I don’t feel it like anything is happening at all. How can things stay exactly the same with so much change? Surely there is an answer. Did I get tired while driving and pull over to sleep a moment? Have I awaken yet?  I felt awake. I am consciously thinking and observing my surroundings. So I cannot be asleep and I don’t feel like that dream sense of not controlling your surroundings. I feel I can walk if I want to, but not sure which direction to head. I look for my car again. I must be dreaming and am still in the car so that is why I cannot see it. I try to will myself awake. Otherwise why is the world around me so different from just a moment ago? Surely there is an answer and I just need to collect my thoughts and get going again.

 And as time goes on I keep worrying about what I need to do when evening then night comes. I look up and the sky has the same amount of light it had when I first arrived. I don’t panic about night coming yet, but it is a concern. I try to determine how much light is left in the day. I cannot tell. I know it is still daylight, yet seeing the sky clearly is difficult through all the foliage on the trees overhead. I cannot tell if there is a cloud in the sky or not. The light seems the exact same as when I arrived.

Nothing is stopping me from going anywhere, yet nothing is inspiring me to trek through the forest to climb one of the hills. I want to walk, yet I stand there constantly turning to face one direction then another. The idea that I was once in a parking lot is there, but it has long since disappeared with the building, my car, my keys, the other cars and the people I had thought were there when I first arrived. Now there is just me, some flat ground that was the parking lot. Wasn’t there a ravine on one side? I see some mounds of ground I presume, leaves collected into mounds, the trees and then the hills going up to who knows where. All around me is this same dull color, nothing that stands out, just this constant foliage of dull brown or dull orange giving off the appearance of some contrast, yet very little.  The sunlight continues filtering through to let you know it is still day, but the light of late afternoon only. I cannot believe this is real. Again I think I am in a dream and will wake up soon.

And now I cannot tell if I am disappearing into the environment or just observing it. I wondered why everything around me is evolving or changing, yet time keeps still. This is madness. I need to kick something. I want to hit something. I cannot find anything to kick. I think about kicking the mounds of leaves. I get scared. What if I kick something and hurt my foot? I shouted or I think I shout. There is no echo. I want to scream at everything around me. There isn’t anything to scream. I don’t know what to scream. I run in circles, well it feels such. Why am I not seeing anyone anymore? I feel anger and don’t know for how long I have felt it. I keep wanting to scream and scream and scream. I hear no sound from me. Maybe I hear something faint from far away. Why can’t they hear me scream? What is wrong with this world?  It changes and stays the same no matter I long I stand here. I am not dreaming, this is a nightmare. I try to pinch myself. Wake up I think I yell. I look around and it is still light out, the leaves are all around, the trees are all around and somewhere just past the trees are those hills I need to climb. I get resolute and think I should march there now before it gets late, yet I am scared to leave my spot because all I want is to go home. Frustration wells up inside me as I think about home.  Just let me go home I think I scream.

It still is light, the same light it has always been. I look up. I look down and the light doesn’t change. I think there should be someone around to speak to about where is my car, where am I, where does this madness end and when can I go home? I promise myself whatever caused me to park here I will fix. I just need to find someone to show me what happened. Do I need to call someone to come get me? I still want to scream, yet that doesn’t seem to be an answer to this predicament.  I just need to find someone and then work out the details. This cannot be a problem especially if I find my car. My wallet must still be in it. I feel I am waiting and it never goes away. Waiting for what I ask myself? Somewhere there is a solution so I scream again or I think I do. Am I still asleep? Is that all this is for now? Where in your brain do you go to for your brain to break through this madness? Surely some part of your brain is functional enough to know to create a lifeline out of here. And what is here besides a valley maybe, small one at that, does water run through that ravine I saw earlier, yet cannot see again. Speaking of which, am I thirsty?

I cry. I look at the dullness of the leaves. I cry. I look at the sunlight I cannot see. I cry. I cannot stop crying. I don’t want to do anything. I look through the trees to find the hill I must climb, yet why make the effort. I just stand there for how long. Does it matter if I move? Does it matter about me? Why can’t I wake up?  Why does the day never change, but I feel I am changing? What process of thought must I endure to escape what is in front of me? Why won’t my brain, my synopsis figure something out so I can move.

I don’t want to move. I stare at the dull brown and orange leaves. I see. I smell, not sure what. Or am I smelling? Don’t leaves smell, doesn’t rotting foliage have a smell? I see the leaves on the ground. Shouldn’t they be decaying? I shrink into my brain. Am I not seeing, hearing or smelling because the world around me is disintegrating?  I think this is not my fault.  Whatever happened I hold no accountability. I got stuck. Nothing else happened. The frustration, the anger, the confusion is all gone now. I sit in solace knowing it doesn’t matter anymore.  I sit. I don’t care.

I don’t know how long I sit or am I standing. I just don’t know what is happening. Maybe I will be rescued. I laugh. That is a futile thought. Does anyone know I am missing?  I think of home. Home is beautiful, full of color, off white walls filled with scenic landscape paintings much more distinct than what is around me. There are family pictures, the smell of fried chicken cooking, the laughter ringing from all the rooms as kids play. I love home. How long will it be before I see home again? There is no worry if I can go home. All I need is to go home. Whatever this moment is about, it won’t matter when I go home. I cry missing home, but not a sad cry, maybe a bit sad, yet more of longing and it being too long away.

For some reason I keep waiting for something to happen. At times I get angry again because the world is the same. Everything I first remembered is gone and has been for untold amount of time since the light never changes. Still the same late afternoon feel to the light so why doesn’t it change? Why is it not darker by now? I keep thinking maybe it is a dream, yet it feels like one long dream. Yet isn’t that the way dreams work. There is no time, they just happen and then they are over. I think again maybe this is a dream. I look around. How many times have I done that?  Has time settled into the area where I sit or stand or turn? I don’t know which and trees above me with those annoying dull brown and orange leaves, tads of light filtering through, trees all around and just beyond it appears hills leading upwards. It seems like the world has always been this way.

I look around again. Again nothing changes. I look to see if I have a watch on, I can’t remember if I had one on today. Seems surreal to say today since so much has changed and nothing has changed, but it still must be today since it is still light out.

At times it feels like I need permission granted for me to move around. I don’t know why this feeling is present. I look, I see nothing different. Do I hear a voice? I wait.

What I wait for I do not know.  I sense something coming or is it just wind. I think finally a breeze. I cannot remember feeling a breeze this whole afternoon. It feels pleasant, refreshing. Yes I do feel a breeze. I look up. I don’t know why. Is something or someone calling me. Am I ready to move? Almost, maybe, I think.  I think it would be great to shower. I don’t know why, yet a feeling of cleansing falls over me. I feel elated, fantastic like never before.

I run. I run up the hill. I see the light becoming brighter with each forward motion. I cannot run fast enough. There is no labor to my breath as I run. Everything comes easily as I approach the light coming from the top of the hill. I see the beauty of the light, a beauty that cannot be described. The tears are flowing. They are tears of joy.

It wasn’t/isn’t that difficult, why the modern disasters tick me off and so does this country

 

You read in the news the historically low lake levels in the west or the flooding in the Midwest as we head into hurricane season. Maybe we get lucky this year and El nino floods the west’s lakes and lessens the impact of hurricanes. Can we count on it?

No. You cannot count on anything with nature so you should always be contingency planning and that is without even thinking about climate change. Yet the short sightedness of our current political system is actually destroying us. And I am not talking generally about a two party system, but our current duopoly. And I do not care if you think I am beating the same ole drum because until you wake up and hear it I will continue to pound. And because it is this same duopoly that is destroying this country.

And all the people who still call themselves Republicans and Democrats will say no it is the other party. Which is one of the biggest aspects of the problem. The intense partisanship hate, finger pointing, yet even more important the lack of either side to actually figure out solutions to problems. So instead of finger pointing, stop for a moment and realize what has my party actually done. If you are honest with yourself, and I know this is a stretch because being honest with yourself is difficult, I struggle with it too, then you will see how little is done for you. Yet right now let’s talk about the country as a whole.

Starting 15-16 years ago I started writing ideas to alleviate what is exactly happening to this country today. Forget climate change, just think about things like an El Nino or other catastrophic climate events that happen without climate change. And if you realize climate change is a possibility then why weren’t you working hastily on alleviating some of the projected problems. No, instead you sat around with your nose in the air and told us the sky was falling and never created an umbrella. Complete silence on solutions or as what I did, offer ideas to combat the disasters befalling us. Everyone said quit pumping CO2 in the air and all will be well while watching the planet continue to consume fossil fuels like it is candy. You needed more and sat there and complained about the greed of the fossil fuel industry, which is undeniably a problem, but never ever said until this stops what are we going to do about potential disasters that existed even before potential climate change.

And others spoke of similar solutions, yet like me screaming into a partisan divide so large that our voices couldn’t even reach the canyon walls to even echo loud enough for the vast majority of the country to hear.

If you are a diehard Democrat or Republican you are part of the problem and not the solution no matter what you continue to say to yourself. We need new ideas, and at this point the ideas aren’t even new, they aren’t heard.

So if you are one of the people that thinks Trump can fix everything or one of the people who stick their nose up at the vast majority of the country and lectures us like a jaded community college professor; you are the problem. You have done more damage than you can imagine. And the vast majority who get stuck believing in either party because they dominate the political system get screwed by your ineptitude for public policy and general ability to think.

So again and again I say this we need new parties, or people in each party, I really don’t care, I just don’t see it in the duopoly to start thinking. And not just thinking outside the box, just thinking.

Again starting fifteen or sixteen years ago, I started proposing solutions with how to pay for it without just taxing us to death, yet it fell upon death ears. And again others have offered similar solutions, even those with greater credentials than me, yet the political earwax has clogged up the system so bad no one hears. And if you are reading this on Tumblr, Wordpress or Substack, the original blog is on blogspot or blogger. I started using the other platforms over time so go find the original and it is in plain black and white on your computer screen.

I feel for the vast majority of our country living with the flooding or concern for lack of water or the high price of electricity and I most emphatically put the blame on the duopoly lying to the people of this country just to hold onto a false sense of power. Absolutely abominable what they are doing to this country.

We can still rectify the problems if we can get past the partisan madness being shoved down our throats.

Does the MAGA rank and file know Trump is anti free markets? And the democrats are going to lose the 2026 midterms if they keep whining about Trump.

 

So let’s start with the first question. Trump is anti free market. It is plain and simple. And it is not when he says buy a certain computer or product and doesn’t promote everything. That is just Trump being Trump or possibly being unethical, a question for another day.

When Trump supports industries in general over other industries or when he uses the power of the government to have negative affects on an industry that is anti free market. Any time a new industry sprouts up or new ideas are created the markets are to determine if it is going to be successful. The government should play no part and specifically the President creating obstacles for that industry or idea to succeed is anti free market.

New industries and ideas are what made our economic engine explode for the last 150 years. The government or any person in power in the government has no business to stifle innovation. This causes loss of thousands of jobs and millions maybe billions in today’s world in investments lost to the economy.  Trump should have no say in what we invest in, what we develop so the consumer has more choices which drives down prices. Also new businesses help more wealth creation for more people instead of supporting only established industries and consolidating wealth. If a new business is not successful, so be it, but the President shouldn’t be deciding what businesses we can invest in or products to buy.

 

And one reason Trump beat Harris was because he kept saying he had answers. Sure it was just him talking, no real substance to anything he promised, yet he said he was going to do something. People want to hear positive, not whining. So much of the secondary news podcasts and other avenues are just whining about Trump and saying you need to vote democrat, yet offering no solutions to the current issues facing everyday Americans. And I am not hearing anything of substance from the democratic party.  They are going to crash and burn again just like in 2024 if they don’t start changing their tune and offering something people feel offers them an opportunity or hope things will get better. Their messaging needs to change because Trump isn’t on the ballot and most people are ticked off at Congress whether Republican or Democrat. If they want to win, they need to be positive, hopeful, strong and offer solutions. And secondarily realize whether they like it or not, most everyday Americans lean center to center right. And yes democrats they really do land in the center, no matter how much you scream democratic socialism is the answer. That won’t fly far with most of us. Again whether you like it or not you need to center your tune.

 

Cheers

I am going to say it, I told you so.

 

Today on CNN online there are two articles, well one is a video. The first headline is for a poll that says: “Majority of voters want to unseat most of Congress”

The second appears to be a follow up to the first poll stating American voters are hungry for a change.

Well, yes they are because the duopoly failed us. I just wish they had woken up to this reality sooner. I spent decades telling people the duopoly fails us and now we are in a political abyss. It is too late in most races to get qualified independents or a new major party going, yet hopefully this frustration carries over so people start preparing for 2028.

In a weird way Trump was the first sign voters were tired of the status quo. He was elected in 2016 saying he would drain the swamp. Of course he was all talk and no action, but it was what people wanted to hear.

Now he is part of the problem because the Republicans are worthless. Yet neither party has any new plans. Well the so called democratic socialists say they are new, yet actually they are ultra liberal democrats trying to wrap themselves up in new shiny paper. They are not new. They are not change, they talk a good game, yet the reality on the ground is we need political leadership that can make hard decisions and get really creative in public policy.

We have major problems, fixable yes, but major so we need people that can stand up to the lobbyists, the current duopoly, the billionaires, the extremists and settle us down with some very specific budget planning, resetting priorities, getting us out of this totally insane Iran war situation, rebuilding trust with our trading partners and allies and more.

If you read through previous posts over the years there are multiple ideas written and rehashed, hopefully to improve, and more. If I can think beyond the crap the duopoly dumped on us, I’m sure there are other ideas too that can be utilized to improve our current needs such as improving social security, healthcare (I know many want universal healthcare and honestly I am not a fan, but if someone can come up with an AFFORDABLE option, I am all ears), improving education, changing the tax code so it favors small and medium size businesses along with the working and middle class.

There is more and if you reread the above litany of issues, you will say isn’t that what the Democrats and Republicans promised they were going to do. And yes that is why you are frustrated because they haven’t done it. Over and over again we heard the same promises election cycle after election cycle and nothing changed because the duopoly only cared about re-election, not you.

So the polling shows what I warned you about starting in the 1980’s, people made fun of me. Yet the truth was showing as far back as then and after four decades of being lied to, we have a horrible Congress, a Supreme Court that cannot apply the Constitution to anything Trump does and a President destroying our country from the inside. 

Yes you want better and I am glad, just what are we going to do about it.

And what is scary, the first issue to work on is our budget because we need to get handle on that to know what we can do going forward. It may take a few years to level off the disaster the duopoly is leaving us.

Secondarily, we need to invest heavily in renewable energy because oil and it’s by products are poison to the human body. And it always remains a geopolitical nightmare and the current quagmire is more proof that oil is our enemy no matter what Trump and the oil industry tells you. We may never get completely off it, but over a decade ago I started writing ideas to transition us off oil that would make the economic change work.

Problems can be solved, who do we elect to solve them is the first step, yet right now it is not the Democrats and Republicans creating answers.

Here’s a strange thought

 

Donald Trump keeps telling everyone he is the only one that can fix everything.

If you know anything about Judeo-Christian teaching there is the obvious flaw. Only God can fix anything and everything especially completely. So what would God think about Donald Trump saying this?

God is forgiving so maybe he laughs whole heartedly at Trump and since he sees Trump so lost he shows Trump the truth and Trump listens and changes his ways. It is kind of what we all want, some saving redemption at whatever level we believe.

Or God invited Trump to Heaven and Trump went so rogue that when it comes time for the four last things for Trump that the fourth is staring down hard on Trump. Who knows?

 

 

 

 

And for those of you who don’t know, the four last things are death, judgment, heaven and hell.

 

And if you ask what about purgatory, well it is part of the heaven route. Purgatory just cleanses our soul to go to Heaven so that is why there are only four last things.

The irony of Republicans, Social Security and AI

 

We all know Social Security needs major overhaul to be a valid resource for retired Americans going forward. It is an ongoing headline in the news.

Republicans tend to suggest one solution or part of the solution is to raise the retirement age.

Nowadays people worry about job reductions overall in society due to AI replacing so many workers.

So shouldn’t we look at lowering the retirement age.

Why?

This allows gainful employment for workers in the prime years and protects the job market from being over saturated with the reduction in the labor force due to AI.

 

And how? And this how is just another reason our societal mindset needs to change. This isn’t socialism or just tax the rich to tax the rich, but to level out the long term playing field and allow people who create jobs etc to continue to do so, while allowing our society to continue to prosper overall and have even just a basic quality of life.

First and it is just a reality corporations and businesses need to accept. Wages need to increase. If people are making billions on top of billions the workers wages can increase. It is just common sense for a better society.

Second the social security top tax limits need to be eliminated and all tax brackets need to have social security contributions. You can say after a certain level you start reducing the rate or percentage being used. For example raise the full taxable limit to $250,000 or $300,000. ( and depending on a few factors we may not increase the employer’s responsibility past a certain amount or eliminate it entirely for small and mid size businesses, but then you are getting into how do you determine small and mid size companies,  something to be worked out in the details) I stole some of this idea from a letter to an editor and that person said regressive tax. I am not sure if that is the right definition yet generally you lower the percentage withdrawn up to a certain income level. So by let’s say $750,000 or $1,000,000 the percentage withdrawn is 1 or 2% and then is zero above that. Again the exact figures get worked out in the details.

Third you lower the potential age you can start taking social security. If people have done well and they want to do something different in life or even start their own business they would be young enough say 60 to start receiving benefits. You could keep the benefit amount on a similar sliding scale where you start at 60 with a percentage of full benefits then at a later age you receive your full benefits. And we even lower this to 65 maybe. And possibly if more are paying in, benefits might increase also. Again this is worked out in the details.

The biggest issue that needs addressing is most people that rely on social security are in service industry jobs or similar which historically have been on the low end of the totem pole. This is why the overall corporate pay rate needs to increase. More people paid higher allows them to save more, allows them to have more flexibility in their retirement and both the higher wage earners and corporations contribute to the overall health of society by allowing lower wage workers a basic decent end of their life opportunity. This is not socialism. This is society overall respecting the dignity of life.

The goal is not to say we cannot have rich people or AI, but to shift some of the responsibility of protecting their workers onto them and not just on the government protecting a workforce that is stretched to their limits under paid with no quality of life. Even rich people like going out to eat or whatever. They just need to respect the people that are there serving them and not treat them as serfs.

Or the people with excessive billions can be hated and eventually pitchfork economics come into play and that doesn’t do anyone any good.

 

And yes this is I don’t know how many ideas or variations of a theme (including my last post) I have to actually make social security work now and in the future.

Cheers

Creativity is good even in public policy

 

As you know I complain much about the fact Republicans and Democrats never really have any answers and no longer solve our nation’s problems. And if you read this blog regularly you know occasionally I make stabs at trying to come up with new ideas for public policy.

And today I read an article that is a letter to the Editor of the Los Angeles Times that is an idea to help Social Security long term.

This to me shows that people do care and are thinking more than our Congress. And improving Social Security should be a priority for our Congress. Social Security is a monstrosity when it comes to projecting out numbers, yet the idea in the article is creative and looks implementable. It is not a stretch to understand. The real trick would be to apply it going forward in some mock ups and if viable it should be considered by Congress.

And if it doesn’t completely address the revenue problem but is close we should then look at other options to enhance.  All in all there are answers out there, it is just a shame the people who are paid to represent us, cannot even begin to solve the problems facing our country.

And for your benefit here is a quick recap. The author of the letter called it a regressive tax, personally I am not sure the verbiage works, but here goes.

The author suggests instead of eliminating the cap on taxing wages for social security, create the regressive tax where the first $200,000 is taxed at 6% (currently at 6.2 for first 184,000) then drop to 5% for 200k to 300k, 4 for the next hundred thousand until you get to $600,000 and is one percent for everyone above this threshold. Again this is a quick recap so I hope I spelled it out correctly. The author states this could be palatable politically and I tend to agree and I guess obviously since I am posting it. 😊

I always say center right ideas work the best and probably are the best answers politically. I hope this spurs some creativity or an open mind on your part to think of bettering this idea if needed or for other issues facing our country.

And let’s thank the author for thinking of rational solutions to our country’s issues. Unfortunately our current government isn’t doing it.

So again I say we need new parties and new leadership and answers like this show why.

 

Cheers

The reflecting pool is now the mirror of how bad things are to come

 

I have posted previously on this topic, yet as time marches on the disaster waiting is getting worse.

We all know it, it is staring even his supporters in the face, yet what happens after Trump passes away is potentially getting uglier by the day. Months ago I suggested the Republicans start planning for a Trump world. Then later on I was a bit more direct of what the Republicans will be facing once Trump is gone. Now it is beyond the planning phase time frame and what is looming for this country is flat out insane.

The power play after Trump will wreck havoc on this country. We have all heard the phrase power does not exist in a vacuum or something to that nature. Also today I was overhearing a podcast from a historian named Heather Richardson I think talking about there is a power shuffle or loose power structure going on in the administration right now. Not exactly sure since I was overhearing and not paying complete attention. Yet her point seemed to be that behind the scenes people are starting to position themselves for what happens after Trump. Some names she mentioned that might be jockeying around were JD Vance and maybe Tucker Carlson, but she also mentioned Carlson may be backing Vance.

The real issue is most of his cabinet and sycophants rely on Trump for power. They need him more for their future than their own careers will allow them to be successful. And there isn’t much cohesiveness amongst the group either. If and when Vance becomes President, how much of Trump’s cabinet and staff will he keep. And what happens when the infighting begins as they desperately cling to power.

Also Trump’s supporters will allow people to tell them it isn’t Trump that was a failure, but all these cabinet and staff members that let him down which will include Vance. People like Andrew Vought and Steven Miller may be the first to go, but also the most dangerous as the go out. Especially Vought because he probably has the most cohesive plan working, yet needs Trump to continue it. Well, honestly I am going to leave that sentence out there, but I do not know if Vance and Vought are on the same page. Vance may keep him since he does have a working plan. Miller not so much and offers no real advantage to Vance and whatever he may want to do once he becomes President. Personally though I would love to see both go since for different reasons, they are both dangerous to our democracy.

There are a plethora of cabinet members though that need to go and how attached to any of them is Vance. I don’t think much, yet they may do some crazy things (not that they aren’t already) on the way out the door. Most of Trump’s cabinet since there for loyalty reasons to Trump won’t offer much for Vance and easily are a hindrance if not an outright disaster ongoing for him.

Vance becomes President by default if Trump passes away before 2028. Yet every problem that Trump created will fall onto Vance’s lap. It could end up being the worst thing that could happen to any one person. And the problems are only getting worse even if oil and gas prices come down a bit in the short term. Iran already thinks he is a joke and will probably shut the Strait of Hormuz down or slap ridiculously high tolls on certain countries daring him to do something about it. Trump’s tariffs still cause headaches for our trade partners and they won’t want to jump on board to save him. He will have to repair NATO and trade alliances with people who will not trust him one bit, nor respect him.

So Vance will become impotent from day one, he will have cabinet members trying to hold onto their jobs either with outlandish actions or accusations, and a country that never wanted him in the first place. Why this isn’t major fodder for the talking heads world astounds me.

The post Trump world is going to be a nightmare and now that there are temporarily some Senators acting tough may not be enough to settle the power structure down in D. C.

Add the rise of socialist democrats in very democratic cities, you can see major jockeying of partisan madness as both sides get dirtier and dirtier with their hate and finger pointing. I know these same socialist democrats think they have tons of momentum going their way, but it will hit a major wall outside their specific regions. They think their ideas will take hold because of how bad Trump has been, yet to this day they do not see the fact that people wanted Trump to succeed because of what he says were his policies. Those policy wishes do not change just because Trump passes away. And of course there is the far right that is more emboldened and just hates everybody (including themselves) so they aren’t going away. The possibility of political outbreaks throughout the country exists if someone doesn’t grab the national attention quickly and offers some policy that tampers down inflation and more importantly the political rhetoric. It won’t all go away, but if we get lucky and someone can grab the middle’s attention and support, it might be less of a rocky ride.

Yet there is no one currently in any spotlight that offers us a chance to settle down the partisan hate without the ugly happening first. Our country as a whole can look much worse than a green reflecting pool very fast. The good news is and I think Ms. Richardson also brought this up is that most people in this country still like our country and what we represent. What we need is for a very dynamic person to rise to the top with practical ideas that people see as possible. Sounds fairy tale like, but we are almost to that point. Most people ignore the far right so they very rarely gain much traction with the body politic of this country, yet the far left does garner some waves of momentum occasionally and that is more dangerous than the middle realizes. Right now too much socialism is not the answer even though to rebuild our way of life some socialistic type ideas will need some attention. A delicate balance to say the least but yo yoing from one extreme (Trump’s right wing bigotry and authoritarianism) to the other extreme is not the answer no matter how often the left is going to cheer it on since people like Mamdani are capturing some major attention with some success in New York. Yet what works for New York isn’t going to fly in quite a few other cities and states. Just the nature of the political beast in a large and diverse, in more ways than one, country.

This large and beautiful country with the infamous melting pot we so love to tout works best when there is local politicians having some control over their respective areas, along with a national government that tries to create basic baselines of federal oversight and balance that gives equal benefit throughout the country. With the rise of the one percent, that hasn’t been the case in decades and people do feel it. We just hope that the center line is strengthened going forward and the wealth divide crumbles in a positive way so the majority have the opportunity we always say we have.

Yet to even get there we will face the ugly algae of Trump’ reflecting pool running rampant throughout D. C. for possibly years. A sad and true reality we face.

I was going to stop, yet I remembered one hope is that we get a new Speaker of the House that people respect asap and is open to busting open some of Trump’s political wins to bring back some leverage for the middle class.

It is way past time the Republicans ditched Mike Johnson as Speaker (and some other observations)

 

He has failed in so many ways. He fails as the Speaker in general. He fails as the Republican Speaker. He fails the Republican Party. He fails the people of this country. He fails Donald Trump and what is weird Trump and the people have completely different interests that are diametrically opposed yet he has managed to fail both of them. He fails himself. He fails his constituents specifically.

It is pathetic to watch this man on the news. He fails at lying. He fails at even trying to explain the madness he is wanting us to believe.

Time for the Republicans to realize surviving the midterms or not, Mike Johnson needs to be removed in any aspect of leadership in the House of Representatives. The sooner the better.

 

And I do not take credit for this observation, but I wish I said it. Scott Bessent looks like the ventriloquist dummy in a grade b horror movie about a ventriloquist. And Kevin Hassett could either be the dummy or the ventriloquist. Both those guys scare the crap out of me and not because they look dangerous. They just look creepy. Them being Trump sycophants is another reason they scare me because they throw some much BS out there it is maddening to realize they will say anything to make Trump look good. They go on talk shows, interviews etc and sit there with a straight face and bold face tell you not to believe what is going on in your life. And worse Mr. Hasset just smiles at you while doing it.

 

And finally I wish the media quits talking about the price of gas as it is the one and only problem average Americans are facing. The price of gas is eventually going to drive up costs across the board. Some economists debate the different types of inflation measures we should use. Well they are all about to climb into the danger zone for us. To say we need to exclude volatile items out of the measure, is just a shell game in the current situation. If truly there was an accident in the Strait of Hormuz or something similar then I could agree the price of oil and gas could be discounted in inflation measures because those prices would fall once things were cleared up. This war though is an insult to all of us. Mr. Trump cannot negotiate away the problem Netanyahu and he created and Iran is emboldened to make lives hell for half the world just to spite Trump and Netanyahu. The people of Iran are suffering immensely. The leadership is loving this moment.

Some tariffs are still around in some shape form or another which is another behind the scene problem right now. And on top of everything beef is about to get way more expensive if this screw worm situation grows. Sure beef is only one item, but once it gets expensive then chicken and pork will see more demand which will drive up their prices. The price of groceries before now is not talked about enough, next month between higher prices, tariffs and now beef, people aren’t going to want to celebrate the Fourth of July. This should have been a wonderful moment in our country’s history, instead our current leadership at all levels of government have destroyed any idea of celebrating or even reflecting positively on our country.

So going back to the original part of the post, Mike Johnson needs to go so we can get a Speaker that starts thinking about how to help Americans deal with the real inflation facing us, not to mention the ongoing healthcare debacle, arresting the corrupt leaders and more. And I am not holding my breath for Democrats to actually do something except lecture MAGA, which goes over so well.

People are still ignoring a post Trump world

 

A few months ago I wrote a post about what happens after Trump passes away. Since then the economic, political and geopolitical landscape began to fall off a cliff.

There needs to be some kind of come to reckoning about what we do as a country once mother nature takes over. He is not young and contrary to White House nonsense, he is not healthy.

And once he passes here is the short list of problems, if things stand as they do, Vance faces:

Iran war: Trump has put us in a precarious situation as it is and once he passes we have no real strategy. Not an iota of one to start negotiating. Vance has different viewpoints than Trump also. And then there is Hegseth, what might he do in the immediate aftermath. Will anyone in the Pentagon step and in and try to manage the war? Iran may be just sitting back and waiting for this moment because they could come out of this real strong due to Trump’s lack of vision and Vance’s ideology of no foreign wars. The Strait of Hormuz will be under their control for decades possibly. The whole war is a disaster to begin with and Trump passing will force , to even have a chance of salvaging anything, into a very forceful stance. And yes what does that exactly mean? The repercussions of this war are an immediate and long term disaster.

Economy: First the war has driven up the price of oil, gas and food worldwide. Vance may do something stupid to try and resolve the war to get shipping through the Strait of Hormuz so he can hold on to any inkling of a presidential bid. We are about to lose on three or four fronts economically on the world stage and only very stringent matters will let us hold on to some semblance of respectability. China is loving this and my bets are on they loved having Trump over to gauge his health to see how fast they can move on Taiwan, world trade and more.

Putin and Europe: Putin is getting desperate and in a bid to save his Presidency he may take even more action in Europe while we are dealing with Trump’s death. No one in Trump’s administration has the cajones to do something about him or will care. Europe will be hung out to dry and either get mired in a slow moving WWI scenario or come out with a quick victory and manages to save their identity. Unfortunately not their economy unless their victory is complete and they can open their doors to a new Russia so new trade with Russian oil and gets off the Middle East pipeline. If Europe survives Putin and a more open Russia emerges then that is good for Europe, yet all countries not named Iran in the middle east will suffer a setback as they lose customers for their oil.  Iran will still be the main supplier of oil to China and will be openly competing for other Asian markets. This can only embolden Iran and with us out of the picture some of the other Middle Eastern countries are in trouble.

Israel: Just saying the name almost says enough. Once Trump is gone, what is Netanyahu’s fate? What is Israel’s fate? Does Iran rebound enough to repress their surrogates attacking Israel? Will we even respond? Could we respond?

Japan and Korea: Not as dramatic as Israel, yet they are both facing what will be a very emboldened North Korea.

Domestic political turmoil: Who survives Trump? Are there real Trump allies willing to create violence in America for their benefit?  Who fights them? Then there is the duopoly’s lack of vision for a post Trump world. Neither side is ready with a plan going forward to address the above listed issues or even the most basic of issues like restoring law and order, punishing the grift and fraud, actually passing a domestic budget and whatever else may come up. We still need healthcare costs addressed, social security improved, better education, the infamous infrastructure addressed, homelessness, food security, small and mid size businesses helped, tax reform, campaign finance reform and imagine the financial markets in the immediate aftermath. Who does what? Does the market crash?

In my original post I just talked about the very basics. Since then, I have only seen one or two articles maybe talking about a post Trump world. We were unprepared then and Trump has only made things worse. The possibility is there for complete domestic upheaval and no one in this country has the political clout to pull together enough of a coalition to maintain some stability.

And this could happen at any moment. Am I doom speaking? Yes a bit. Could more practical heads manage to salvage the aftermath? Yes, but we need to start planning now to help that become a reality.

And the duopoly is not ready. Too many Republicans have succumbed to Trump’s influence over the party to even begin to think, much less act productively. Their desire for power has rendered them incapable of governing responsibly. The Democrats are clueless. Sure they talk pretty words, have wonderful platitudes, shout to high heaven about the evils facing us, without even knowing the true depth of those evils and then more down to earth, have no real plan. They think they do, they talk like it, but really pull back the curtain and again it is high minded words and platitudes. And the current Youtube and other blogs from the ideological spectrum only add to the partisan madness. They are not independent. They are noise. They complain about the other side or just make stuff up for an audience. So many pro and con to Trump are so tied to him that what do they do afterwards? 

I have tried throwing out ideas to take better paths historically in this blog. Yet some of them are very grandiose. Yet who knows maybe some large projects may help bring us together as a country. If we all started working on the same goals instead of pointing fingers at each other we may live on. For now though, natural disasters and more are going to test us each and every time. And slowly due to Trump’s rot on our infrastructure, it will catch up to us.

Hopefully my pessimism is misguided and we drudge our way through and come out on the other side with some semblance of our country. It looks bleak to me, yet though I still have hope. If saner heads on either or both parties or my dream of more independents and third parties come to fruition then we can rebuild this great country because more often than not, if a people survive a calamity they usually build something better. Or let’s hope so.

Cheers

I know it is Sunday and we shouldn’t be negative, yet it needs to be said. And yes I don’t like name calling, but there is no other way to say it. People need to hear it whether they like it or not.

 If you do not like to travel, you are an idiot.

 

It doesn’t matter what you like, go see it, go visit it, go do it. Our life on planet earth is too short not to digest as much of it as you can. God created a beautiful planet and mankind has added some wonderful things too.

 

And yes I know we should put the beauty of the Creator first, but honestly I don’t think God minds if you explore what he gave us.

And I hate it that for too many they consider travel a luxury. And that is a shame. Obviously travel is not a “right” but it should be available and affordable to the masses. There is a whole host of political problems that is preventing people from traveling, so we need to find a way to balance this, yet for now, people need to find a way.

Travel is education, relaxation, awe inspiring, socializing, meeting new people, see different cultures, new food, new sights, new activities, new scenery, new tastes, new excitement and more. If some of that seems redundant, it is not. Sights and scenery can be different completely and need to be experienced to be understood.

And yes travel to do what hobbies or interests or whatever you like. Go fishing, yet fish in many rivers and lakes, same as for camping, go to different campsites. If you like mountains, go see many. In North American alone you definitely have years of travel plans to make with all our mountain ranges from Canada to Mexico from the Pacific to the Atlantic. If you love adventure, you can never do it all. If you love water parks and amusement parks, go wild. You cannot even begin to see enough beaches. And if you are the person that says, well all that looks the same. You aren’t traveling, you are going through the motions. Stop, look listen smell taste and breath it all in. You will see and enjoy the differences. And while you do what you like do something different also along the way. If you enjoy camping, go to a museum every now and then. If you love museums go fishing every now and then. There are a million ways you can mix it up.

So go!

I love beaches, cannot get enough of them, but not one beach looked like another. Not one wave I jumped over was the same as the one behind it because I experienced it. The morning walks through the shallow surf always brings a moment of joy and peace. I saw wide sandy beaches, beaches with rock formations, small beaches, tourist trap beaches, beaches with large waves and others with small waves, white sand, black rocks, beaches with steep drop offs or some you can walk out way too far and there is more to see. I love listening to the waves after dark, what a great way to go to sleep. And I have seen much more than beaches.

I implore you to travel. I wish I say could the right dynamic words to make you drop what you are doing and go right now.

I love getting in the car and going. Summer family vacations were something I thank God I gave our kids. We drove. We flew. We went. You should too. And to this day the better half and I do not feel fulfilled unless we travel at least once a year. We can be broke and make bad financial decisions and still go. Yes, honestly we go no matter what our financial situation. And we have paid for it in more ways than one afterwards. We don’t regret it.

And times we have gone with enough financial security that every moment was pure exhilaration, pure fun, pure enjoyment, pure relaxation or whatever else may have been the reason for going.

With all the hate and madness in our daily news lives and political shenanigans going on, you need to do something that brings you happiness and joy.  And looking at all the pretty pictures on your computer is not traveling. You need to go. I always rant and rave about how we can do better, yet today I rant and rave to try and convince you to do something better for yourself. Please do.

Cheers

It is going to get ugly. It is going to get stupid. And it is going to be beyond expensive.

 

And I bet some of you know up front what I am talking about here.

 

Yes the Senate race in Texas will show us just how bad our politics have become. I know some Democrats will say we have nominated a worthwhile person. And maybe so, yet have you seen him. He is about to be taken apart by one of the ugliest politicians around. Not ugly in looks, (well) but ugly in human values. And the entire MAGA wing of the Republican party and possibly some other Republicans are going to spend the next few months denigrating Talarico beyond belief.

Why? Well first they don’t have any public policy to mention or tout. They just don’t have squat. There only hope is Trump steals the election. Second they have the mentality of childish bullies.  I could say middle school bullies, but they don’t rise to that level. Absolutely nothing to do, but make fun of someone because they are weaker than diarrhea. They talk tough, but honestly they all go crying to the world every time someone calls them out. The entire Trump and crony playbook is name calling. That is it.

The other issue is Talarico is a Democrat and I am gathering somewhat of a very liberal Democrat. This is Texas. That won’t fly well with many swing voters because most of them spend the day trying to decide which conservative they like better and liberal policies will get them to close their ears faster than aforementioned diarrhea goes through your system.

Talarico cannot sit idly by and let the insults fly. He will be forced to fight which will be better for him than trying to sell his policy ideas in Texas, yet once he goes low, the spiral to the bottom is just unstoppable.

So we here in Texas are about to get hundreds of millions of dollars (I wonder a billion?) of political ads where one guy will stubbornly try to take the high road and the other will keep going lower hoping to keep Donnie boy interested in him. The end result will be brutal no matter who wins. Politics in this country are already bad enough, partisanship bleeds our sanity out and this race will become the epitome of campaign and political failure.

I just hope for some strange and mad reason everyone in Texas wakes up and votes entirely third party. Unfortunately the party I like doesn’t have a candidate. I hate not voting so I will probably vote for who knows who right now. I guess I have to wait and see what the ballot looks like. It is sad. Our once proud nation on its 250^th birthday has devolved so fast sane people cannot find a real choice.

And if you actually look at this election and what it will become, you will get an idea of why I have been saying for 45 years we need new parties.

Two posts for the price of one: A) Is MAGA nihilistic? B) And this upside down world is beyond tiring

 

So part A is a widely discussed set of madness from both conservative and liberal writers. You can find articles on this topic from the Atlantic to the (pacific, sorry couldn’t resist) New York Times to the Bulwark to the Guardian and more. And even a website called the Conversation.

So why bother adding to this list of esteemed writers if this has been dissected before? I don’t know, but maybe it just helps to understand that one third of this country has no direction except it thinks it does, yet others include many thoughts, hate, apathy, or as on the Conversation, the author references Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky saying: “explored what happens to society when people who rise to power lack any semblance of ideological or moral convictions and view society as bereft of meaning.” Trump feels it has meaning, meaning for him. Or Tom Nichols saying the movement is less about policy or compromise and more about pure destruction and political anger. Or how about in the New Republic the article talks about the rule-breaking approach of Trump administration figures, arguing their actions are performance-driven rather than goal-driven. And this to me is more about greed than nihilism.

And this last statement is part of the problem. Where does the apathy of some meet the greed of others? And maybe it isn’t apathy, but a complete throwing in of the towel to society can be better way to say, which is more nihilistic. Apathy is lack of caring whether it be a better world, or a better person while nihilism is complete dismissal of life or what it offers in general if you want my distinction.

But you didn’t ask for that, so let’s move on. Nihilism is the philosophical belief that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. So yes it is a step further from reality than apathy. Yet does MAGA truly meet this definition? I do not think so.

There are subsets of thinking behind nihilism that also do not describe MAGA. Some of these are the core principal mentioned above, moral, cosmic or epistemological nihilism. That last one is a mouthful, anyway they all pretty much say the same thing, there is no knowledge and it doesn’t matter what you do to keep it super simple.

Now Trump’s administration demonstrates moral nihilism by definition, but really they are either power driven or greed driven. They care, but for all the wrong things morally.

MAGA wants something I just do not think they know what they want. This is probably what causes this confusion around nihilism. And whatever they want they are motivated by some type of hate partly caused by Democrats and partly by Fox News. Yet to say they don’t care or have no compass, yet it may not be pointing north, that isn’t the case. Does what they want have meaning? If not then you can apply some nihilistic tendencies? I think buried deep there is some meaning. Now it may be based on principles antagonistic to our country’s values even though wrapped in patriotic fervor. In fact some of it is antagonistic to our values, but they believe lies that let them think they are the patriots. The problem is why they believe these lies, yet the reason is not because they are nihilistic.

So all you great writers time to get out the pen and paper and try to figure out what is driving them. Something is and until we figure that out and counter balance it correctly this MAGA movement ripping up our country is too entrenched for us to be able to have a rational government. Hence we are stuck with the charlatan Trump and all the destruction he is doing to our country until you great thinkers throw out another philosophy to muse on.

Or another words, dare I say……… we need something new. The old ways are dying before our eyes. MAGA is just one monstrous symptom of the underlying moral decay cancer eating away at our country that some of us are tired of watching. MAGA is not the disease, it is a part of the body showing the disease.

 

And now for B:

That moral decay is what is right side up right now in our country. There are answers to our problems, even good ones. Until we find the leaders who are willing to stand up to the monsters we slowly rot and the greatest government experiment on the planet turns to mush.

And yes I know there are a few voices trying, yet until they break through the madness of social media, the loud quiet of so many Americans who spend more time trying to budget than pay attention to what is causing their budget morass we are in trouble.

What is wrong is up and what is right is buried deep beneath the wrong. And for those of you who follow my second blog on Substack, you know we live here on earth, where some are headed to the City of God, while others live in the city of man. My creek for the moment is why can’t we sail through the city of man and do the work of the moral high ground. There are hints we can. So how do we claw our way back to the earth and bury the demons that do not want us to do what is right? And you do not have to believe in demons to see the upside down aspect of our world right now. I just ask you to open your eyes and realize change won’t happen until we get the courage to confront the demons of greed, power, lust for earthly things and more. There is nothing wrong with being successful, it is appreciating what opportunities you were given and allowing others to share in the beauty of what we are given.

Cheers

After fifty years the Democrats are starting to wake up

 

I am including a link to an article that says everything I have been saying for decades, maybe not in the same words, but generally speaking.

The democrats have been clueless for a long time. This article is couched that the Democrats have sucked up to Wall Street and more, yet overall it says the Democrats quit being Democrats and to me that is basically why I have been calling them clueless elitists. 

I am including the article for reference. Since I am a conservative I tend to fear too much government spending especially with the enormous debt we are carrying so I cannot jump on the policies in the article. Yet it is the Democrats actually trying to do something again and some of the ideas are workable if managed well.

Republicans whether Reagan, RINO or MAGA will immediately denounce these ideas because they are now incompetent when it comes to governing. That is the one talking point Democrats have had for years that is correct. Otherwise and this article calls it out indirectly neither party has cared for the vast majority of Americans for an extremely long time. The article even references how Trump won in 2016 by appealing to the working class in the rust belt. Of course that is well known history, yet people especially Democrats have glossed over that for years.

So have some people in the elite DC circles and elite press circles starting to wake up to what has been obvious for decades. We need new parties. On occasion I have said if either the Republicans or Democrats get it together and change then that would work too.

Apparently or maybe that may be happening if you read this article. I need to see more. Again as a conservative I would rework some of their ideas, but at least they are doing more than lip service and whining. They are putting some work into change.

We will see what happens. Maybe we can claw something together from the ashes of the Republican party that Trump is burning down. And finally go forward putting the people of this country first.

Whether liberal or conservative we need to get money out of politics which includes as the article mentions getting rid of super PACS and even more, stricter rules on lobbyists, (if you try to eliminate them you will get too many lawsuits around freedom of speech) and stop gerrymandering all together. That has done more to prop up the duopoly and stifled true representation of the people. Make the candidates earn their seat and we will get better governance and policy.

Here is the link:

This phony Democrat got blown out of the water — and that's terrifying for Trump | Opinion

Cheers

Trump is not a new problem

 

Trump is a new version of an old problem.

Basically I consider myself an average college educated person and I have no idea what that means. I say that though because I have a point later on to make.

First I still read and am working on one project that in actuality is a very intense study. Much more than I am sure I wanted to undertake, yet as I get older I do not want my brain to rot so I am making the effort. You can find it on Substack along with this blog. In working on that project I am reading quite a bit beyond the book I am studying. I mainly comment as a journal what I learn from the reading about the book.  Occasionally I take side trips just to discuss related thoughts and topics in general.

As part of the reading I bought the book “the Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine”. I am not going to discuss St. Augustine’s ideas in this post.

Reading through the introduction there were two paragraphs that hopefully shed some light on my frustration with trying to get people to understand why we need change in our country. Or actually may be helping me understand why no one wants to listen.

Here is part of one paragraph from the introduction to the book mentioned above written by Herbert A. Deane:

“…In quiet times men tend to take for granted the state and the order and security that it provides. After a period of stable government and security for life and property, they are tempted. To regard peace and order as “natural” and “given” and to forget that, to a great extent, they are results of elaborate, delicate contrivance.”  This is footnoted and references Thomas Hobbes “Leviathan”

Why it matters to me is that we have been in quiet times so maybe what I have been saying for the last forty years had no interest in the academic world or academia. And I say we have been in quiet times for decades probably starting with the 1950’s. Yes I know we had Vietnam, the protests, the Nixon administration and resignation, the cold war, the post cold war and more. Yet for all that happened most Americans including the working class had a sense of security of life and property. People were able to obtain a decent life for themselves. There was nothing that truly shattered their world view.

 

So let’s go to the next paragraph in the introduction:

“When, however, men face serious difficulties which the traditional political and social  system seems unable to solve, when conflicts between groups, classes, regions, or religious sects within the society become so intense that consensus evaporates, and above all, when a crisis of the most fundamental kind undermines the body politic because traditional beliefs, attitudes, and values no longer command virtually automatic assent from most members of the society, thoughtful men are once more driven to the effort to examine the bases of social and political order and to suggest new answers to the questions of politics.”

Are we at this point? Obviously you know I am going to say we are at some juncture here or I wouldn’t be writing on this topic.

And there are two situations where the body politic is no long receiving assent from most members of society or we are ascending to that point.

One of the two is the AI problem which I am not going to address in this post. It is a problem that will definitely cause us to examen where we are in our society and it is rushing at us faster than we can cope.

The other problem is the more traditional problem of economic and political endeavors. And the Trump problem is not new. He is just the updated version of this problem and that is elitism is taking over the country and the body politic. Trump himself is more the catalyst to the problem than the actual problem. Elitism has been building in this country for a few decades, but not until recently with Trump’s false promises for the working class has it been thrust into our faces with what is really going on with his grift and corruption.

The other way elitism has taken over is how our Congress is controlled by lobbyists and large donors.

Elitism that causes the elitists to try and control all aspects of our lives only for their benefit eventually creates dynamic social change. I think most people are beginning to see we are well into this dynamic playing out.

My anger rests in the fact I saw this coming.  And this goes back to me confessing the I am an average college educated person. All the academia stood in their ivory towers and few professed nothing but ignorance about what was happening starting in the 1980’s until now with the slow gradual shift to elitist self-serving policy.

I was not educated enough to ridicule the academic elitists to cut through their need to sound superior to us in what they said was wrong with our country. Their ignorance led to a social revolt of the working class buying into Trump’s nonsense. I just saw that the two parties had created a duopoly that was becoming self-serving for their own power and becoming beholden to an elite class.

And yes I know I was not the only one who saw this coming, but now that we are sitting on the cusp  of possible major social change I am mad because I screamed at people there was an easier solution twenty years ago.

I screamed we needed new parties without being able to cut through the morass of people not affected by what was coming. Again it goes back to the “quiet time” when men took for granted the social order.

We see now the hate being played out by the very people losing to the elitists that is directed by the elitist mentality of pitting democrats and republicans as two sides and each side must win. All the while the two sides are actually the same side, the American people. And again this has been pointed out for decades by more capable people. And again this fell on deaf ears by large chunks of academia and politicians because they existed in that quiet time where some semblance of prosperity existed.

And to me, I get angrier because this can be fixed. Our country can regain the quiet time (well except for the AI problem developing) by going back to educating the people what I have been saying. Lose the partisanship in our politics, take money out of our elections, either force the duopoly into developing new leadership and ideas or create new parties to do such. We are still at a point where drastic social upheaval change is not needed. This isn’t going to last much longer though.

And the irony is that the elitists upending our society would still benefit from us reclaiming our (the people’s) interests in our government, economy and society.

As long as we have a market economy there will be rich people/elitists. That isn’t the problem, it is their control of our lives that is the problem. We created a government that can hold that in check. We let the “quiet times” blind us to the need for constant vigilance.

So now I ask you do we let this wonderful country slip into moral decay due to the powerful thinking they are above us? Or do we do our diligence and reclaim the basic and fundamental aspects of our government, society and economy and continue this wonderful experiment called the United States of America?

And yes I am reading St. Augustine’s City of God, yet that did not cause this sudden understanding of our moral decay. I saw this coming in the 1980’s and have been screaming in the woods ever since. My current readings including City of God only make my anger stronger since I am seeing how easy it is to reclaim our lives and it falls on the ignorant ears of our so called intellectuals that are blindly stupid.

I hope we can reclaim it all before the elitists destroy the fabric of us as people and then have AI destroy them.

How bad is it or how bad it is (or how bad am I)

 

Yes, contradictory title on purpose.

I am stuck. I want to believe the best so much so that I was traveling home from a bookstore with a copy of “The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine: Whether that has anything to do with my mind set, well it doesn’t. I haven’t read the book yet.

I bring it up because as a good Christian we are taught, yes even required to help the poor. So it was coincidental that I had this book when I saw what I saw.

As I was driving there was a long line of cars and then I saw the sign. It was a volunteer group, looked like it was at a church giving away food. Yes big sign free food bank, they even had one of those large blow up figurines dancing in the wind. This line was off to one side on a side road of sorts. I drove by the line of cars.

What I noticed is what bothered me. Almost every car in that line was better than mine, some even much better. I have a mid size SUV a few years old. It is nothing fancy, but it is paid off so we keep it. What I saw was some pretty nice cars in this line. And sure poor people or working class people can by chance have a nice car, but not in droves.

So how bad is it that people that appear to be well off are in a food bank line. It can happen. Who knows. The markets could crash dramatically and all sorts of people are hungry. Food inflation could become so rampant that everyone needs help except the very few. I haven’t heard of anything dramatic, yet it was worrisome to see. Do I need to rush out right now?

Or could our society be so shallow that people who don’t need resources still take advantage of this opportunity and the people that need it are left out? I don’t know. The visual didn’t look good. I haven’t heard of a complete market crash. Sure the well off might be able to react quicker than the poor if the economy tanks so they would be first in line, yet even that sounds like people are getting screwed.

I could be completely wrong. There was traffic so I was going slow, but I only saw free food bank signs. Hopefully the people I saw were donating and I am way off base. I didn’t see a sign that said donation line or anything similar. Every car seemed to be in the same line. I won’t say it cannot happen, yet donation lines don’t usually queue up. Usually you see them open and people come and go through out the day. Hopefully I just missed something. Like I mentioned I want the best, but the ten to fifteen seconds I drove by seemed odd. The line was long. It circled back around the building where they were lining up. This was the middle of the day so people are out, but also people are at work and doing other things. You just don’t expect busy people to spend time in line unless something is needed or wanted.

I didn’t circle back, yet for some reason this stuck in my head and caused me some consternation so again I hope I am wrong otherwise it says too much about us right now.  The more I think about it the more I hope I am an ass for these thoughts.

People do not usually comment to these posts, but any thoughts are always appreciated.

Democrats cannot get too presumptuous

 

Sure I am an independent, yet sometimes I give advice, well sort of.

First I am writing this in the city of man blog. If you do not know why I am referencing this there is a second blog on the Substack version of this blog that has that answer. Otherwise this is just some thoughts headed into the midterms which are still much further away than the Democrats would like them to be if they really paid attention.

And yes many Democrats are going what?!?!?!?!?!

And yes Trump is falling faster than a lead weight attached to another lead weight and a couple of feathers, but that isn’t the issue right now.

I wrote previously that the Republicans in general need to have a post Trump plan. I haven’t seen that yet, but they got their advice.

The issue will be the economy and the Democrats cannot come out and say Trump screwed up the economy no matter how horrendous or not it is in November. They need to have a rational economic plan that sounds like it is a unified Democratic plan. And it cannot sound socialist or anything too far leftist. Why?

I have said this too many times, yet Democrats really want this to be false. This country is still closer to the center right than the left or barely the center left. Democrats tell me the country is closer to the left. I listen patiently and quietly as they say these arguments. And then I also hear them say they have no idea why people would vote for Trump other than him conning them.

And then they just do not hear, most people care about the economy and the best answer politically is center right ideas. People want to be rich or at least successful. They do not want their lives defined by “a state”. Sure people will accept the government helping people, it has become part of the political dialogue. Yet to say the state should be in charge of our lives, will send people in this country running.

There may be about 20% of this country and they are a loud 20% who do believe in a stronger socialist agenda, yet even many of them would draw the line at a complete state run economy. So anything that sounds close to that or sounds too much reliance on the government will chase away the majority right now even though tired of Trump.

Sure the Democrats can blame Republicans for some of the country’s current travails, but if they chirp away saying all Republicans are bad and then do not offer a rational alternative they may keep people at home. Which leaves open a strong showing by Trump supporters (and right now they are still supporting him) going to the polls and electing who he wants. It is not probable, but very possible if the Democrats chase people away. And the Democrats have a history of doing just that. Don’t believe me then explain to me why Donald Trump won in 2016 and 2024. He didn’t win an outright majority in 2016, but won because the Democrats shut themselves out of the infamous old blue wall or the three to five states from Michigan to Ohio to Pennsylvania.

The Democrats, the party of the working man was snubbed by the working man and has been ever since more or less. Yes the working class should still want the Democrats in power if the Democrat traditional platform existed. It doesn’t anymore. It moved too far left, created a woke culture, which in of itself isn’t the deal breaker, it was the way it was presented to America. Elite Democrats got on their high horse and told everyone how horrible they were if they didn’t go along with what they were told to believe. This caused enough people to run to Trump. If you keep talking down to people, they stop listening much less supporting you. Simple as that, yet Democrats do not want to hear that because it takes away their supposed leadership role.

It is good some Democrats are coming out against the old guard. This needed to be done 15 years ago. Instead Obama caved too much to the vanguard of the party and let Hillary set the party back at least ten years. Well now they can climb out of this morass if they start singing a whole new song. They can still be a liberal party. They just need to realize they aren’t dragging this country to the left at the moment and rethink their messaging to show they can generate sound economic policy without taking away everything. It is more of a thin rope to walk than the Democrats usually attempt. Yet if they want to win the mid terms then in 2028 they better have a very respectful open the big tent kind of mentality and actually have policy that attracts people to that tent.

They start being partisan or elitist and lecturing, they could flub the midterms spectacularly.  Also like mentioned above November is not next month. Much can happen between now and then to give the Republicans some footing to distance from Trump and keep an economic policy that doesn’t scare people.

Now for my real feelings. Both parties still are failing this country. The partisanship anger and hate needs to go. We need new leaders and new parties. Yet for now the Democrats have a chance of keeping the duopoly alive if they make some major changes to their messaging and hopefully their actual policy.

Cheers

The media is lying to you, yes both liberal and conservative media and they know the truth.

 

I get sick and tired and more when I hear any media complain about the dysfunction in Congress. They helped to create and are part of the problem. Both sides of our partisan madness in the media have ramped up their audiences to fever pitches of hate towards the other side.

Both sides will then point to the other side and blame them for all this and we wouldn’t say what we say if it wasn’t for them. And yes they do this over and over again.

I ask you for the millionth time, get away from media and start parsing stories for the little bits of truth that do filter through. And be careful with so called independent media. They are just as partisan. They will tell you they are independent and in the next breath will tell you all the reasons one side is the problem. They will say things like I am sick of this story because both sides don’t open up to the truth and finish the sentence with and if ________ side wouldn’t do this then we wouldn’t have this problem or this example proves they aren’t serious. Nope that person has just admitted they are on a side.

Congress is dysfunctional and this did not happen overnight. It has been building for decades. I try to tell you we need new parties, yet maybe I do not hark on how bad the partisan media is to help you see the light.

People on both sides will tell you that they are not the problem, yet if you listen to one side you will hear all the problems of the other side. Get up tomorrow and change channels and you will hear all the problems of the first side. And the hate both will spew telling you how much hate is on the other side is just mind boggling maddening.

Don’t be fooled as the Who sorta once said. The song just started playing in the background of my head for some reason.

I would love to see new parties because I cannot trust either the Democrats or the Republicans to actually get something done right now. Yet if these two parties would actually change and start thinking about you then maybe I could listen. I do have to give a small group of elected Democrats some credence because they are starting to demand Schumer and is ilk retire. I do not know what they will do or if it will be the same song different verse, yet for some of the rank and file in the Party acknowledge out loud how the old Democratic guard failed them, well maybe that is a start. I won’t vote Democratic since I am an independent conservative, yet right now I will take any steps in the right direction.

And yes I am partisan since I am conservative, but I am a different breed of conservative than the old big business Republicans or what some call the Reagan Republicans. They were never really conservative. They just wrapped themselves up in conservative language and flag waving to get people to vote for them all the while turning the government over to the one percent.

And then along comes Donnie boy, who knew this yet had a better handle on the anger Fox news had generated towards the Democrats and the rest is sordid history.

Yes he is a racist misogynist and knew how to couch his language just enough to get himself understood without totally giving himself away to the working class. After all the hate of the Democratic elitists telling the working class how bad and unimportant they were, they gave Trump the Presidency in 2016. So yeah, partisan talking points are not going to help you in the long run. Trump’s time is about to run out, yet maybe a bit too late for our country.

Yet if we continue to point fingers, wag tongues, scream at the audience and perpetuate myths things are only going to get worse even when Donnie boy is gone.

We need a functional Congress. And I say that as a conservative knowing we don’t want the government doing too much, but right now we need them to reassert their place in the Constitutional framework of our government to get rid of Donnie boy, hold his administration’s lackeys accountable and pass serious budgets that begin the process of bringing our debt down. And do all this without blowing up our economy and throwing the rest of the Constitution out to the wolves.

As a conservative, I believe in the root word to conserve. Time to find people to put our values first of equal opportunity, ability to vote, and add to it by realizing billionaires don’t need anymore money, the markets work better when people are trying to be successful not when they are consolidating wealth and just in general a shared sense of a moral framework that champions people doing what is right, not what is in it for me and that goes especially for those in office. You want to screw people? Then you do it in the private sector. The public sector is for service to the whole. Those are just a few values we need to get back to so we can start rebuilding what we had going in the first place. We were never perfect, yet over 250 years we were getting a bit better decade after decade, Unfortunately the last few decades we are slipping into a partisan abyss that is destroying what we had started.

It is not about making this country great again, it is about building on the changes that made us better than the previous decade.

Many times I listed quite a bit of policy initiatives to help us along and I still believe in them. Sure some need work, but with the disaster both parties and their media cohorts have done to this country at some point I hope you realize; it is time for change and it doesn’t have to be drastic, just practical.

And on a side note, I cannot wait to find out why Melania crawled out of her drawing room to regurgitate the Epstein files. Something may be busting out soon. Or maybe she is just tired of Donnie boy and wants out. Who knows?