Every week or so, I check the Lost & Found for the country I grew up in.
I'm not sure when I lost it or if it actually lost me, but we're in different places now, philosophically and metaphysically. I don't see us finding our way back together any time, much less soon.
The 2024 Presidential Election season has started (cynic that I am I would point out it started about forty-five minutes after Biden won, despite the vigorous protestations to the contrary of toothless gorms led by a cynical self-serving narcissist whose last original idea died of loneliness) and the good, and extremely cold, and VERY few good Republican people of Iowa already elected their next President with the fine folks of "Live Free Or Die" New Hampshire on tap to decide today.
Do you remember taking American History in high school? Not civics, history. And reading about the American Revolution and the leaders we had at that time. The litany of talent, genius, and sacrifice just goes on and on: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Hancock, Franklin, Monroe...As they say in baseball circles, that's a pretty deep bench.
And here we are, almost but not quite two hundred and fifty years later, and our choices are... seriously?
It's a fine line between freedom of choice and freedom FROM choice. And on top of that, we're pissed off at each ALL THE TIME. I get angry just thinking about how angry I always get and don't need a precipitant or provocation but there's no shortage of those on either side of the political spectrum.
I realize it's never eaten as hot as it's served and our democracy works only as well and hard as we do--but Out Here in the Middle, it's getting lonesome and not just a little scary as we keep shouting at, instead of speaking to, one another. It's getting so hard to hear ourselves think, I fear we may have finally stopped.
-bill kenny
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