First Blog

1. Usually the revolution  is antipodal, with two heads, faces, and modalities - like much of everything else. 2. For much of what we think we control, we are merely servants. 3. Often, the seat of government is called a swamp , a dark place with greedy and hungry  creatures.      What would be worse is if it was called a circus , a bright place with distractions and illusions, with clowns, high flyers, trained beasts, and prancing ponies.

Setting sail. On the great galley of life, most of the young graduates end up rowing for scraps, all the while hearing the joy and pageantry drifting down from the top deck. ------------ Dear Mr. Mayor, If your policies are stupid, If your bigotry is stupid, If your decrees are stupid, If your ideas on education are stupid, Then you just might be s**d. The good news is you rank in about the middle of hopefuls for the next Presidential election.   ------------ Socialism? Conservativism? Each system has good points and bad.   However, both systems have their greatest troubles with human greed, for money and/or power. The Noisy Classes . Socialists like Bernie Sanders don’t care about any factors aside from the more stuff paradigm. Not really practical, they have no plans beyond the great give.  Abject conservatives place all responsibility on individuals, come hell or high water. Business is supreme. ------------ Free. Will Americans ever learn that f

Whether you lean to the left or lean to the right, you constantly hear testimony from either direction of the desire to “get to the bottom of this.”  Leaving aside what the “this” actually means, or to paraphrase Bill Clinton, what “this” “is,” we note that both sides are sincere in their desire to plumb the dishonest and embarrassing depths reached by their opponents.   Now, if both sides are successful, it may well turn out that the vaunted swamp in Washington DC may be revealed as a pit , and a deep one at that. So what’s your preference and what’s easier, draining the swamp or filling in the pit?  My guess is both tasks are nearly impossible.  Making light of this matter, or is it an indictment, does not diminish its gravity, seemingly understood only through two simple metaphors, swamp vs. pit. When every side want to get to the bottom of this or that, it signals a deep dissatisfaction, not to mention a wide division.  These are troubled times.

Metaphors for our day: Sandbox, Tank, Swamp.  Think outside the sandbox, they say.   There is nothing more true than with the Republicans.   Indeed, for the Republicans there is a new sandbox of populism.   It is a genuine caring for, not assuming of, the people.   Trump, much to the chagrin of the traditional Republicans, has changed the sandbox in which they should be playing.   For Republicans, gone are the days of trying to relive the era of Ronald Reagan. What has evolved is a new party. A tectonic shift of both parties has taken place.   The New Republican message is populism.   It places Americans first, with their aspirations, dreams, and hopes. Yet, the Democrat sandbox has changed as well.   The New Democrats are now a party appealing to the very rich and supported by the poor.   The former gets the benefits; the latter gets the promises. The big switch: The New Democrats are now a party of big money. The New Republicans are now a party of the people. In c