Almost a Shame

Only Almost.

Since I quit addressing matters of state so much, I drifted into matters of what ails my lifestyle, and general tone of psyche.  That is highly unfair to those who enjoy reading some of my stories.  They want to back hand me when I sound weak and uncertain; defeated.  Only some of them.

Maybe that is a wonderful thing.  Often it takes a balance of positive and negative stimulus to get a person to move.  And not give up. I prefer it heavily weighted in favor of those who read, yet do not verbally or emotionally back hand me.  (or physically, for that matter!)  Works best if the back hand readers are in the minority.

Now, if you have only two or three visitors, it makes it all harsher I think.

As far as public affairs and politics, Anything not in the progressive playbook has been so ridiculed, in somewhat erudite circles, that these seemingly bright people refuse to look at their own established order and its flaws, corruptions, abuses, and fits of waste and negligence.  The assumption always made is that if you don't like the status quo in this country, then you are what the media portrays as "the other side".   I don't even know for sure what the first side is trying to do.   The PR is based on ridicule as much as anything, and half truths fly like projectile vomit.

And the alleged opposition plays at opposing abuses, but then they get as far away from constitutional doctrine as the first group.

Republicans have had the House for awhile.  And enough power to do things if they are worth doing. But they do not want half of what they say.  The people on both sides are pandering to their own precinct's demographic.   Give the people what will keep you in a job.

For that reason, disagreeing with an elected official or the party of that official does not mean you are gung ho in support of the other body of panderers.  It is an insult.

Really, look at the old fashioned "stump speech" or bar b que in the park, with bands and carnival-like decorations, pep rally marching band music.  This is how people audition for the job of making laws; either protecting or eroding your rights.

Somehow I find the blatant con-man, back slapping bully mentality to be thuggish and plainly disrespectful.  But the news and the parties putting on the show continue with this nonsense.  They'll pretend seriousness with cookie cutter talking points which permeate the internet, but which are invariably very cleverly skewed.  Half truths.  But to talk people who can't critically assess the nuances of an argument out of blindly jumping on the bandwagon is a waste of time.

Just get the marching band to strike up a lively rendition of "Happy Days Are Here Again!" yippee.
That and a pack of smokes will buy you a vote or two.

I definitely do not want to join the culture that is developing of people absolutely cutting off friends who support someone they don't like.    I'm waiting for someone to be refused when they order a Trump cake of some kind.  Then people will point at what happened when bakeries refused to do a wedding cake for same sex couples.  It would be interesting,  but the divide and attitudes are not interesting.  They are ominous.

Seems like someone on facebook had a big post--apparently cut and pasted from a talking point site---saying that if you could support a guy like Trump, you were clearly no longer their friend.   That was the bottom line.  It went through a litany of Trump offenses, twisting facts where needed.  It worked itself into a fit of self righteousness before casting out the evil supporter of he whom you do not support.

People could think whatever they want and still be harmless if actual power of government had been severely limited over the years.  But that in itself appears to be a philosophy.  Unpopular one.  But it stands to reason that the more power it has, the more prone to abuses.

But that also goes for the unsupervised public as they develop resources and such.  Few have the integrity to do what is right rather than what provides some form of immediate gain; whether it be money, power, fame, etc.  What you end up with is a government fronting for the powerful, even as they pretend to put them in their place and all that.  Right and wrong, as far as should be enforced by government is not that complicated, in reality.

But we cleverly developed the habit of making laws so complicated that no one knows what they say or how to comply.  That brings in lawyers. Big surprise. What it does is cover how the corrupt collude to use government to lock themselves in in their industry, and lock many others out.

See?  Just explaining how I see things in the most general sense, while claiming I am now a-political, has become a lengthy, tedious process.

So, we can conclude that while other material here may be acutely down lifting, maybe it is not a shame that I haven't felt like discussing public affairs.