I commented earlier tonight on Billy’s comments on voting. We pick up the conversation…. Me at Samzidata [1] just now:
-1-
We’re both 50, you and I. Whatever happens, in terms of future direction for this country, and by extension, western culture in general, be it good or bad, we won’t live to see it. A bleak outlook, certainly, but as you say, I know... and you also know I’ve never been one to back off from an unpleasant truth. (Or a good argument with a friend, for that matter… Chuckle) And the truth is, that another republic… another chance… good or bad, isn’t going to spring up out of a hole in the ground… there are no instant answers, here… such a new situation will simply not happen within the timeframe we have. I should think that amply clear, by now. It’s also true that what we have now is the best we’re likely to see, as a basis to work with… to improve on.
(Whence my question about how leaving your power to move this mountain by the side of the road unused helps your situation. Clearly, it cannot)
Anyway, with that in mind, all we can do is kick this can down the road a bit further, and hope to hell we’re kicking it in the proper direction. And yes, sometimes that means making choices among less than optimal players, most cycles, and making choices so as to minimize the damage to what we have. Not only so that I might live out my days in the best manner possible, but so that my kids and their grandkids can, as well. It’s the nature of the rather distasteful beast, but there it is. It’s what we have, and we’re not likely to get a better deal. So I work with what we have trying to improve on it. I work, trying to change minds, among my other efforts. Why?
There comes a time in a father’s life that you cannot know, Billy, (Your loss… you’d have been a good father) when you recognize that your largest obligation is to that next step along the way… your kids… and beyond them….and you do everything in your power to arrange a better life for them, than they might have had if you just sit back and let it all fall down around your ears. I chose to use what power I have, less than direct though it is, to effect the future for the better.
-0-
And now perhaps you also have a fair enough idea why I’ve made he effort I have with this blog, over the years, and why I stay at it. This blog is, first and foremost, about changing minds. It’s lost of other things, too, of course. I try to make the going fun. But in the end changing minds is the driving force. And this place is my voice to that end. A small thing, of course in the annals of this world but you do what you can. Else, you simply stop living. And I’m not there, yet.