“Life is short, and the one fruit of it in this world is a pure mind and unselfish conduct.” Marcus Aurelius
I just can’t seem to help myself when it comes to my writing. This coming week is going to be the classic case of “before and after”. Right now, it is Sunday, November 1st and I’ve got some time to kill, which I seem to have in abundance these days. I am guilt free, regarding where I find myself. You wouldn’t believe all I have done, before getting here. I haven’t retired, I am just an unemployed writer.
I am so easily distracted, just like all of you. The opening paragraph is my proof. I do have fun writing about it, though. There is no way I am going to ignore the election results and its immediate fall out. I have spent a lot of time writing about where we are and it will be exciting to write about where we are going, at least in my uneducated opinion……………
Today is the day after yesterday, when I began this, and the day before tomorrow, Election Day. It feels like a day of rest, before the onslaught begins. What I do know for certain is a shit show is lurking in the shadows. This week will become one of the most historically, significant times in the history of our country.
When you cage a rabid dog, all it wants to do is rip its captors to shreds. Let’s impeach the son of a bitch. Our forefathers were miles from perfect and incredibly naive. They began a fight to the finish with a ruthless king. Sadly, they never imagined having to deal with someone equally as merciless. Civility and a higher purpose was their mantra. Well, here we are folks, mired in the trenches of treachery………..
The Day of Reckoning has arrived! What I didn’t realize when I started this particular tome is that it can often take longer than this day to determine winners and losers. So, we will have to see how the day progresses. This is America’s IQ test and let’s hope we pass and get promoted, graduating from the kindergarten class we have been demoted to for the past two years. While “we” are waiting for results, I just wanted to say it really can’t get any worse than it has been. I know, I know what you are thinking, but a little optimism won’t kill ya.
“ Good evening, this is Larry Feinstein, reporting from the Election Desk at No News Now. We are in the closing hours of the mid-term election results that you have all been waiting for. Well, DJT suffered a hard earned, ass whupping of incredible magnitude. I know I am paid a huge amount of money to be an impartial reporter, but what the fuck, you only live once. I gotta tell you, I am exhausted at this late hour. I am going to surf the blue tsunami to sleep and I’ll be back tomorrow with more of this magnificent post mortem.”……………….
Well, the other shoe just fell and I am happy to report we do not have a pair of cheesy, black Florsheim’s! I am also particularly happy for those of you, who have sadly lost hope, because we have all been fed a diet of negative puke by word and deed. I also want to apologize to the guys, who put this country together. I have been hard on them in recent stories. They were incredibly imperfect, but they had a dream of possibility and that light still shines in us all.
Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, too quickly. Trump & Co. forfeited the race. The Democrats would not have swept to victory without their help. Opposition is a helluva lot easier than advocation. Everybody wants to beat the shit out of the bully. At the same time, many Democrats said what needed to be said. I know the confetti hasn’t even hit the ground yet and it is absolutely cool to enjoy the parade.
Two years ago, today’s winners were yesterday’s loser. The best lessons in life are the hardest ones to learn.They lost to the consummate loser of all times! Years ago, but in my lifetime, the Democrats represented the working class and the marginalized, not the rich and famous. The Republicans were the voice of corporate America and a mistrust of The People. I was there when Johnson hammered Goldwater in ‘64. I mean was really there. I was working in the NBC studios, getting coffee for Huntley and Brinkley that night. I also voted for the first time. Regular people won and the Great Society took flight and so did the Voting Rights Act.
It is far too easy to blame outside forces, like the Citizen’s United court decision, etc. for poisoning our politics. In 2024, hatred and anger won the day, because no alternative was offered by the party of donkeys. Today, all the money in the world didn’t have any sway over the power of the vote. Big money has boomeranged. Elon Musk can only vote once. However, even the idea that the richest man in the world could buy an entire election to increase his wealth is insane. It must change.
Speaking of change, if today’s Democratic party doesn’t embrace a much, more progressive stance, they will have turned a deaf ear to the folks who have put them where they are at this very moment. Present leadership is still manacled to the monied, influence peddlers and status quo. Without change at the top, we are screwed once again. The party must take a stand or it will fail, and then we fail. This is truly a pivotal moment for America. I am amazed at how stupid people are when it comes to the purposeful confusion between Socialism and Communism. One is about being humane and the other is incredibly sinister. Get over it!
The antidote for a runaway ego is humility. It applies to organizations, as well as you and I. Certainly, there is cause for celebration, but living up to promises without hesitation applies to us all There is much to be undone, but even more to do. However, retribution is a waste of time, our time. We all voted for positivity, sick and tired of the daily negative diatribe. The consent of the governed kicked some serious ass! Congratulations to us. Now, let’s keep an eye on getting what all of us want and voted for. This is not a time for cowardice from leadership.
“Hope is a waking dream.” I was looking for quote to wrap around this story and I found this one from Aristotle. This was said nearly 2,500 years ago and it is timeless. I started this story five days ago, hoping it would end the way it did. Yesterday, I felt a glide in my stride. Hopefully, we can start waking up each morning to good news and not the rantings of a dementia ridden, schizoid psychopath. All the dirty and demeaning rhetoric can become inappropriate once again, too.
It is time for all of us to believe we can be better and do better. I voted for that. It is my hope in my waking dream.
Blessings.
LISTEN TO IT HERE:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1292459/episodes/20086949-the-other-shoe