I Can Expect or Demand, but that is only my right

So, I should be more, do more, and generally be better than I am.  I have the right to that sort of self-assessment.  I would not think I had the right, or at least not if I wanted to maintain good form, to tell you that I am disappointed because you are not living up to your potential, and that you are just blowing it all around.

You may already feel that way. You may be battling some unknown inner thing that makes you wary of ever holding a pistol in your hand, for fear of your impulses and sadness.  Who knows.  Ain't my business. People have, and need, boundaries.  That is within that personal realm.  An individual's most vulnerable psychological triggers are not the play things of others, in polite society.

I guess you'd never know it, considering how the culture is evolving, or devolving.  Or both; which is what I think.

But through it all, there is a gem which may be of great value.  Maybe the mantra needed right now is, "Demand, and expect, more of yourself".   I will know when I actually have no more, and I've done the very best I can.  It has been so rare that I ever did that, I remember the very brief spans of time when I looked back on the day saying, "I did my best.  Even when I felt like stopping for a break, or doing the wrong thing out of habit.  I did not give in."

So few times I have allowed that.  And I loved those days.  Absolutely loved it.  But things tended to go so fast, and it was almost like magic.  Things advanced so well in those brief periods that it scared me.  And I settled back into being the misfit, letting the cruelty of the world and the stupidity and shallowness of others be my excuses for being invisible.  For basically being on strike most of my life.

Wow.  Is that dumb or what?  So, would it be dumb now to think I can change and maybe revive those rare occasions when I tried, and did my best?  The bar is set low enough, I need no big miracles.  Plus, during those few times, it was a love of life that made it work, not guilt or anger, or resentment, or any of that kind of thing.

Maybe I can demand more from myself.  But certainly no one else has the right, by my code, to slam me for my ridiculous battles with my own demons, and to point out how big a loser I am in that way.
But they have.  And, much as I hate it, they are right.  I do need to demand more of myself and be as resourceful in figuring out what I can do constructively, as I am at figuring out what ails me.

Life should not be so hard.  It makes sense that in developing civilization and cultures, people would have a lot of mental wildness go on.  Our brains and minds have to evolve, too.  So, we are at the phase in evolution where our minds are still confused between the new civility and fight or flight.  It is hard to get it right.  Our consciences work over time or under time, depending.   And it makes people turn on themselves--depression.

Smart people, like my brother, figured this stuff out at a young age.  A heightened sense of reality, and maybe decency as well.  He learned not to destroy himself in protest of that which he despised or did not understand.  Many of us go the self-defeating route.  Oh well.  Let's just ask a little more of my own self.  I have made minuscule progress since adopting this idea, but progress, nonetheless. and I feel less awful and riddled with free floating, macabre dread.
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Played the Tin Roof, downtown last night with Enter the Blue Sky.  Sound guy remembered me from playing with Valor a Lace there a few weeks ago.  That was cool.  The Tin Roof gets 4 stars--all I give at this time.   Good stage.  Good sound, even if sometimes hard to hear one's self--name of the game--great treatment from staff, good sound tech.

How Do You Know?; waterboarding

Perhaps that should have been, pound sign rather than semi-colon, or "hashtag"--where did that term come from when related to the symbol for pound or number? #1.  Hashtag.  I see no resemblance to hash, in any sense of the word.

So, now we have the latest round of Trumpism attack and volley regarding water-boarding.  First, let me say that I find the no-holds-barred attacks on anything Trump to be rather transparent and oddly unfair.  But, for reasons I have yet to fathom, Trump plays right along and banters at whatever level the attack sets.

Seriously, someone attacks his hands, and before you know it, he's actually addressing their thinly veiled assault on the formidability of his genitalia.  Come on.  Crazy.  I still find the status quo scarier than, or as scary as, Trump.  But that is just me.  I like the Libertarian candidate, who has probably received at least 20 seconds of back page press.  Somewhere.

Anyhow, there is much discussion about water-boarding, and torture, in general.  Having been under slight interrogation by police in years past, as a kid, and otherwise, I am opposed to allowing anyone with a badge much power when it comes to the decision to take sadistic action against a citizen.

Ah, the word citizen.  Maybe I should broaden that.  All I know is that I sensed a real zeal for inflicting hardship upon others in several law enforcement people who have crossed my path.  Even ones that seemed cool and on my side, and that people think are splendid "thank you for your service" dedicated public servants.  Just look a little harder, and imagine being on the wrong side of your officer friend.  How would that unit behave?

Sometimes you can see that your selfless servant friend could be a little brutal or demeaning if you were perceived as not compliant enough or possibly guilty.

But in the media, I am wondering how many people have any first hand clue regarding how this waterboarding has done any good or not.  You know that clandestine and black ops have used "enhanced" interrogation techniques from before they arrested Jesus.

The CIA guy is not going to break with the party line during election season.  And all he said was that waterboarding was out.  Blackmailing, threatening your kids,  or attaching electrodes to private parts was never mentioned.  He may know something first hand about it.  He's head spook.  Besides, no sane nation is going to claim state sponsored torture.  And trying to split hairs on where the line is between intense questioning and torture works poorly for soundbites and PR.

But it is just talk and purposeful press, as Trump jumps right in.  Why do that?  Slippery slope.  And I am one who doesn't care how terrorists are treated.  But better be sure you got the right perp.

Trump is right that we are not dealing with a swell culture when it comes to mid east terrorists and islamic fanatics.  I think he should condemn water boarding and suggest the artful use of blow torch instead.  That would be unsurprising at this point.

Why?  Because it looks to me that Trump plans to lose.  He didn't always plan that.  I think powers he can't fight put the squeeze, the threats to family, I don't know.  But he clearly dropped the ball when it comes to getting delegates.  His experts know the game so why let it get away from him before taking action?  No idea.  Another mystery in this odd race.  I find this highly suspect.  I feel everyone is being duped and it is right in our faces.

But how can Trump or most of these people talk intelligently about water boarding and interrogation of aberrant muslim zealots and lunatics?  They have no real experience or first hand knowledge of that game.  I would think simple drugging and interrogation without the mess of pulling fingernails or simulated drowning would be quicker and just as effective.  But I don't really know either.

Seems like another thing to cause misdirection and controversy while, for reasons unknown to me, I watch Trump double down on alienating and scaring much of the electorate while seeming to give away the nomination at the last minute.  I remember Bush 1 giving away the general election to Clinton.  Or so it appeared.  If Cruz gets nominated, he will solidify the evangelical base, to a point, while scaring away other voters.  He'll lose.

All that is so much smoke.  I don't know what really goes on, but I do know that neither Trump nor most of the others discussing it have any idea how interrogating enemy combatants works or should work; what is effective, necessary, and borderline humane.

But if they are truly mass murdering terrorists, then whatever they get is hard to condemn.  Water boarding using clorox would be rather quick, and would satisfy those who think it helps to inflict pain to those who inflict pain.  I'm more of the quick extermination of the hopelessly aberrant, while minimizing pain creation whenever feasible.

Could Be Famous One Day, never know

So, I was thinking, the name "Milt Bosley" is probably a workable character name in some context.   Maybe even an alias.  Doubtful on that.  I prefer Ian, or Biphauski, or related moniker.

But Milt Bosley clearly has a pretty funky life story so far.  That just seems obvious.  May be a villain.  maybe not. After all, we only have a name, so far.  And a first impression.

The trend. It Was There The Whole Time!!

****this is actually the epilog, but could save you time:
I think the culture has become ruder and more petty in some ways, and that is reflected in the political arena.  If dueling were still fashionable and legal, I am sure we'd have had at least one.  Maybe two, depending upon outcome of first one.  Maybe in media it went from, "look at me, I am naughty and being a little disrespectful but pretending neutrality and public interest".  To, "look, I don't even need to pretend any more. I will flaunt my bias and lack of respect."  Just how it goes, and that explains it all****



OK.  I was rambling on about the candidates bickering in ridiculous and annoying ways.  The it hit me that maybe most people think that form of discourse, communication, even trash talking, is cool.  To me it is grating, sad and pitiful, considering the context.  If you are going to insult, do not do wives or children.  Do not deviate from the point.  Personal attacks work but not on me.

So, here it is.  If you have been around long enough, you remember when it was OK to pop a kid who crossed the line talking about your sister, or who just had it coming.  Trouble with that was that a lot of punches were thrown which were not righteous.   If you recall, it was not "cute" for little Dick or Deidra to shout and cry or make wise ass comments all the time.

But we evolved and TV paved the way!!

Then kids on TV started being really bratty and stupid.  Not like the Beav.   Pretty soon kids everywhere were acting like the bratty TV kids.  In order to keep their kids appeased, the parents then outlawed any spanking or other physical punishment in school.  Then the teacher has to talk nicer to the kid than the kid has to  talk.

But the theory is that our culture changed so that little pissant insults, and crass low blows are OK and only criticized when it originates from the other candidate.

Anyway.  When I wasn't looking, society went from just annoying and insulting, to ultra juvenile insults, and totally irresponsible nonsense.  Because everyone is sure he/she won't get punched out like the old days.  You can do whatever you want if you can end it with almost credible claims of racism.

Today's candidates all deny it, "I have always been a friend to the negro people and all kinds of Asians, and the Latinos".  Well it sounded like that to me.  That was actually a compilation of Trump, Hillary, and the Bernie.

Cruz needs to play the Cuban card harder, and better.  He could probably hint at some African in the background.  No.  He's too busy get sucked into very odd controversies.  Or non controversies, not sure.  Same affect.,

I guess it all makes sense, the spirit and ignorance driving the political process in this country.

This is a culture that became worried about boxing, for awhile, due to the brain injuries.  And, oh no, football.  Concussions happen and who knew that could be bad later?   No one, apparently.

Then we turn around and have MMA and cage match type, beat the holy heck out of one another.  Serious fighting going on.  And more women in all out matches.   Violent stuff.

So, the evolution of the culture is a troubling thing which requires a bit more power than I possess to control.

Good News, or maybe Bad News

Part of not feeling much passion politically at the moment includes not choosing one of these odd candidates as my figurative voodoo doll.  I find it laughable when people claim one candidate somehow represents more of a threat than the others.

They are all equally potentially harmless.   Which is to say, they are all equally potentially harmful.

Many disagree.  And I don't care to fight that argument either.  I'm always stunned at how people rally and hoop it up at campaign events.  Candidates are like motivational speakers or charismatic, heal-you-now TV evangelists.  They manipulate crowds and instigate mischief.  The odd part is how hungry people must be for such things.  I guess the offer is hope.  Or the offer is to quell those hopes. The events, by their nature,  are geared toward elevating the status of the candidate to a level above normal mortals.  It can carry a religious zeal.

I do condemn the practice of disrupting planned events and rallies.   Let people decide for themselves.   You want to claim abuse from people because you try to deny them their right to be heard or to judge the candidates for themselves?  That appears to be a game of who can be first to get punched or fall down or be called a bad word.

The best campaign strategy for Trump is to continually list, publicly, the names of those who said they are out of here if he wins.  People would vote for that.  But to win he cannot say any else except the list of names.  I cringe at people who use the word, "bimbo".  I'm sorry.  It may be my prejudice against the northeast due to their intrusion upon my hometown of Miami, but for whatever reason that has always sounded creepy and cheap.

I may be wrong, but it seems there is a limit to how things are said and what is even in legitimate presidential range.  They all sound as if they are running for absolute monarch.

All I know is if I were running, I'd be taking dance lessons now for the inauguration.  After all the Obama swooning in the press, and the recent tango, I would not want to be outdone.   I realize there was tango controversy, but I kind of think that was a useless shot.  His dance could not change anything.  I like it when presidents are no where near any place where they can do there job or meddle in any affairs whatsoever.

I still would rather see Trump vs Bernie than Cruz Vs Hillary.  The first two are at least entertaining and often genuinely funny.  The second two seem to be fluid caricatures of themselves.  I know.  Cruz was supposed to be straight arrow.  But his part in many of the mud fights has been annoying.  At least to me.  I thi


Whoa!! Now I see.  I will put that in next installment.  before I forget

Where's the Passion?

I used to be adamant about matters of theoretical principle.  Things like how it is not right for people to decide how others conduct charity or spend their money.  Just a lame example.  I cannot think of the good examples because I no longer care that much.

I may have been right providing my original premises were valid.  That is where most things go off track--flawed premises.  The logic may be solid from there, but it leads to erroneous conclusions.

And that is how society is manipulated.  Discussions of policy relating to almost everything are tainted by questionable premises.  For example, we have an incident like the Sandy Hook shootings, and immediately there is talk of "common sense" gun control.  I have no idea what that means, but everyone went with that phrase, "common sense'.  They do that all the time; everyone uses the same phrase or word to describe something in politics or media.  The line between the two is more than blurred.

Remember the first time the word "gravitas" surfaced in public discourse?  It was when young Bush was running for president.  "...well, yes, Dan, but does he have the gravitas one expects of a president?"

Every station, and every anti-Bush commentator used the same word, "gravitas".  Someone came up with it first, and everyone mysteriously followed.  I discount any notion that they all thought "gravitas!" individually and simultaneously.  Really.

Lately every anti-Hillary outfit likes to play the clip of her barking like a dog.  I do not think highly of Hillary, but I do not see this barking as at all relevant.  Besides the fact that she is an excellent barker, I think it is the most agreeable thing I've heard come out of her mouth.  Usually she's screaming in that "let's lynch 'em and burn down the factory", rally the troops, voice.

So, a relative links, on facebook, a site that asks for a one word description of Trump.  She is highly anti-Trump.  Pro-Bernie, I imagine.  It is a well put together site, I guess.  Thousands of people, and hundreds of words.  I pk ut "frankly".  It is like he has hijacked frankly and very.  I here or say those words and I think Trump.  I hear a Shelty barking and I think Hillary.

Anyway, I have lost the passion.  Partly because I think the way power and money are handled is largely stagecraft and deception.  And because I am tired of mentally fighting the fact that humanity seems on the verge of deciding to live a more ant-like existence.  Maybe that is how the species survives.  I don't know.  It could be that what promoted technological advances and better standard of living for the last few hundred years is not as viable as it could be because people are sick of the abuses of nature, law, common decency, and general trust.

I still see the main facilitator of such aberrant operation as the same entity that many feel is the solution--government.  It is a bit of a dilemma.  How do you reverse the tradition of government being the legal enforcers enabling thieves, murderers, liars, and worse?   I have little to offer.

Term limits and no pensions, plus not being exempt from any laws or limitations, like other citizens would be a start.  But how to work out the problem of multi-national interests being puppet masters of governments and such is another thing.  Still, if you remove some of the things that make it easy to be a perpetual puppet in power, it has to help.

I am not one who thinks we are absolutely doomed, whichever of these power hungry bastards gets elected.  I think that listening to them all, and looking at what they have done, just the fact that they are our choices is as much a case that we are doomed as anything.

I may vote.  Maybe not.  I am convinced that the system is under the power of entities who care nothing for national boundaries and who are not elected.   Then again, maybe it is not like that.

There is no one running for president I can listen to any more.   Plus my life won't change much.

I guess I got tired of diverting the blame and attention from my own battles and downfalls to the ills of public affairs.

Check Engine and Tired Tires

Since moving to California, I have had more nails, thorns, bolts in my tires that my whole previous life combined.  Just the last two or three years.  I had a slow leak due to a palm thorn, and I have had a nail-induced slow leak several times just this year.  Plus two tires this year which just failed. Something got the sidewall.  Last one was on the inside, the side facing the car.  How did that happen, I wonder.

I caught that one before it was totally in pieces, so they couldn't look at me as if I drove around on it flat, causing the destruction, like they did when the first tire blew.

There was a time in my life when these things would have seemed insurmountable.  I forget when, but I think most of the time that is how it has been.  I am one who finds the normal maintenance patterned aspects of life very difficult.  More than you would imagine.  It makes no sense.  I'm sure it is my glitch, and my glitch is probably either a distant cousin to autism, or just garden variety lunatic or mentally challenged special person.  Did I do that right?  No one offended?

So now, like the road trip two or three years ago, the check engine light is making trouble.  It idid it last summer and I replaced coil, wires, plugs.  Then I did the magic computer rest and all was good.  Now I am dangerous at idle.  I have one foot on gas and one on brake to prevent stalling.

The guy in Lakeside says the code it flagged was catalytic converter.  I tend to think he is right.  I also think one or more O2 sensors is defective as well.  Still works but not quite right.  This is expensive stuff.  I have reasoned it out and am pretty sure this is what I need.  There may be some way to double check.  But at 240K miles, one is likely to have a cat go bad.

So I limp through the weekend and see what Info I get on Monday.  Everything should have a manual back up.  And I always thought they rushed into forcing the catalytic converter on everyone pretty quick back in the day.  That is a red flag indicating crony capitalists used environmentalists so they could force a market for their goods which otherwise would not sell.

I'm sure there are better ways.  But for now. I hope this works out and I can have some peace of mind in the auto world.  I am 10 miles from any store of any kind.  I am a mile up a dirt road.  Others live up on this mountain too, but pretty much I am to myself.  So, transportation is primo.  I think I should have a spare vespa or small beater car, just for hard times.

The car has taught me, more than once, that I am more capable of meeting some challenges than I initially thought.  With only limited tools and work place, and limited experience with many aspects of automobile workings, the trick is knowing when to go for it and when to leave to those with the special tools and knowledge.

I must admit, I like it when I troubleshoot something successfully.  Drives me crazy not to have the answer, so once I start I keep going.  And I have a few reasons to think it is the old catalytic converter, which in no way enhances the actual life or performance of the vehicle.  It is an after thought piece of equipment.  But it can make the electronic control module wonder what it ought to do, and mayhem ensues, car dies at idle and may run rougher and rougher.

Action is the best repellant for depression.  One of the best.  So, I guess being on the edge with the car, having to work Sunday afternoon, stay the night, and work Monday morning, then out of there forces me to figure out what to do.  The initial setback kind of exacerbated existing depression, but then taking action, like replacing spark plugs, do this, do that; things that have been daunting at other times.  But not stuff I haven't done sometime in the last hundred years.  At least similar. I have replaced transmissions and clutches way long ago, and some other stuff.  Less sophisticated machinery, mostly.  The point is, most of the time such things seem too much in my mind.  So I have to figure out when I am right on that, and when I am not.  And when I force myself even though I doubt my competence, I have an extremely high rate of success.  But I still feel like I am messing it all up and I'll blow it and be homeless and hot and itching and having a bad time.

If I were the whatever I was supposed to be, such trivia would not even cast a shadow in my mind.  I would be too busy with my long time wife and our wild and crazy kids.  They'd be in college or somewhere probably.  They would not be seeking micro-aggressions and such.  I hope.  If they were, I would look to me and say, "what a lucky guy. He got it right.".

That is just bizarre.  I feel better

Does Questioning Imply Fickle to Country?

At one time, I probably thought the Pledge of Allegiance was noble, right, patriotic, and what you ought to do.  But then I did what I rarely do; I researched the matter.

I guess it was all the "Under God" controversy and the "In God We Trust" protests.  Again, I thought it had always been such and that the militant atheists were just being obnoxious.  I still they they were being obnoxious, but that is beside the point.

The point is, we did not have such mottos on our money until the 20th century.  Mid-century, I believe.  And the Pledge was written in the late 1800's by a socialist pastor or minister of some sort.  The original version lacked the "under God" part, and had the students giving the straight arm salute, like the did later in Nazi Germany.  There was another pledge floating around about pledging head and heart, bla bla bla.  So, it was similar in sentiment and conditioning value.  The holy man's version was more catchy and rhythmic I think.

Plus the minister was pushy.  No idea why he was so intent on making people ritually promise allegiance while not even thinking about the words they are saying.  Like a mass chant.  Almost cultish.  But, I go along with it. Why get my self beaten over something like that?  Got nothing to do with veterans, last war we understood, none of that.  No shadow on serving to defend the country.  One can be in the military.  You can't run it.  Got to have it.  Big time.

I am troubled by the insistence that one pledge his/her allegiance to the state, in essence.  It is almost like a promise of obedience.  And reciting it daily, by rote, seems a little 1984ish.  Over the top control tactics.   I don't think that was the best of our system.  It was not the idea of those who conceived this system of government.  Many of them were trying for the means to most limit the intrusiveness of the state.  They made a lot of compromise to get something more freedom oriented than what was fashionable at the time.

Anyhow.  The pledge is a very questionable tradition.  And I consider myself fairly patriotic.  But what I see as essentially American does not include blind promises drilled into kids so young they know the sounds more than the actual words.  I get killed saying that I guess, but I won't say it where it makes much trouble, and I won't refuse to be pledgie when those around me are.  I get the sentiment. This is the first country of its kind.  And I get to be born here. And I would do battle with invaders.

But I also resist attempts to place more controls on people who just want to mind their business.  The excuses for running people through militaristic shakedowns in order to board planes or attend events or whatever are increasingly convenient, and nebulous.  At least the plan of eliminating them is vague if existent at all.

It feels almost sacrilegious to even question the sanctity of the Pledge or "Under God" or any of that. But your talking stuff that wasn't official until the 40's and 50's, although Pastor Bellamy, or whatever title his holiness held, was being pushy getting his pledge in place unofficially, many years prior.  Like I said, he was pushy.  And a socialist.  He wasn't Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson or anyone like that.

Makes you wonder how many band wagons you've ridden since birth that may not be ones you'd ride were there from the juggernaught's inception.

It Looks Like Liberty, But It's Not

People thought my point regarding possible draft resurgence and gays was somehow bigoted.   It was not.

I am not a huge fan of things military, however I am a big fan of living in a country which can repel attack and deal with aberrant people, countries and cultures when necessary.   That may be wishful thinking, as I am not sure of what my own country is up to.

But here is the main impetus of my feelings on such things.  Vietnam was a bloody, unmitigated disaster from start to finish.  We were experimenting with police action in horrible conditions.  And people were dying like crazy.  Not a good thing.

Most Americans did not really see any pressing need to go fight there, so they conscripted young men of the proper age to go against their will.  No one likes 18 year old boys so they are the easiest group to draft.

No one wants to be called coward or unpatriotic so people allow the involuntary servitude.  If your country or government is master, then slavery is OK.  

But back then, women were exempt as were gays.  But being gay was not the premier, special class thing it is today.  However, you could get out of going to war in cases you deemed bogus just by saying you were homosexual.  Easy out, thought they would write FAG on your permanent record.  It at least offered one a small amount of control and freedom.

Now, people think we have come so far because gays can put bakeries out of business and they can march in gay parades without getting kicked out of the military (which still sends people into insane wars).  Of course no one is being drafted again, yet.  They still sign up.

Now that women are going into heavy combat roles, they will soon have to register for selective service--the draft.  It is only a matter of time.  But it is equal.  Come a long way, baby.

That is like a field slave who was forbidden from using the mule to plow, thinking he's made big progress because he can now use the mule.  And he's so enamored with this progress he seems to forget that his life is owned by the plantation.  The progress is a distraction.  His life is still not his own.  

So, besides the odd circumstance of fighting wars with no universally understood goal or definition of winning, we have various groups who are begging to be included in all aspects, even though we don't know what we're fighting for.   It is nice that we manage to spend billions in war bucks with so few casualties, relatively speaking.  It fools people.  All is just marvelous, but wait until forced participation becomes the way of life again.  No one who had a pass in the old days will be so lucky.

After observing the abuse and misuse of our armed forces, the disregard for integrity and life among those who direct our military activities, I wonder at those who so eagerly want to be put in harm's way while the military is still being used for corrupt purpose by people who do not care about right and wrong, only their own ends which do not serve the bulk of humanity well.

We've been duped.  So, while people think they are furthering the cause of equal rights for women, gays, and other, they are effectively just making it easier for a larger swath of the population to be potentially enslaved and misused.  Very sneaky business.   Do away with the requirement for young men to register for selective service. Do way with selective service and I will change my tune.  Then I, too, will applaud all the gains and freedom of groups who have previously been held down and limited.  But for now I say, bummer, you are setting yourselves up to be cannon fodder or whatever else the state needs from you.

The Over the Top Moral Blather

Now I have relatives reposting facebook letters explaining why they can't be friends with anyone who supports Trump because those people are all hateful racist whatnots by definition.  I wonder if they have really scrutinized the world of politics in this country over the last fifty or a hundred years.  Remember the cost of Vietnam?

Anyway, I think the assumption that anyone who supports the guy they think is Hitler Jr., is evil, is over the top and smacks of the sort of jack boot attitude they claim is Trump's M.O.

I tend to think we have a serious problem with who has power and the incredible dishonesty, corruption and outright theft that is rampant in all corners of government.   I am not following every word, but I pay enough attention to know that we have but one reasonable candidate remotely in the mix.  And no one even knows of this person.  That would be the Libertarian candidate.  Gary Johnson.

No chance of him getting any votes.  The media has done its job to protect the two parties.  You rarely hear about others, and when you do they are painted as kooks for not being the same old cattle-to-the-slaughter outfits the republican and democratic parties are.

Anyway.  I may think the entire premise of the democratic party is immoral.  Or much of it.  I have no idea what the republican party stands for.  Democrats still like to pander and pretend to rob the rich while screwing those to whom they pander.  Bizarre, but it works.

Anyway, for me to assume that all who disagree with me are evil thieves, racists, sexists, and thugs would be over the top.  You can be heavily misguided in politics and be my friend.   If you are one of the jackboots who kicks in doors without a warrant, and for stupid reasons, then I probably have no desire to be your friend, and I don't like you.

I just find it surprising how people tend to stretch their moral outrage to justify radical judgement and condemnation of people who see the path to Utopia as something other that what they envision.

The older I get, the more I wonder if I haven't been misguided in many ways for much of my life.   It certainly is not due to my core evilness or a desire to do evil or harm anyone.   And I assume the same for most of my misguided friends.