Here I am!

 So, the upside to being your own boss is you end up with lots of time to think. The downside to being your own boss is you end up with lots of time to think. It was the best of times… it was the worst of times….

 

Historically I’ve hashed through politics and religion. But it seems of late I spend more time hashing through my kids, their pending adult lives, my wife, our pending life with 3 adult children (not there yet, but close), business or lack thereof. 

 

Which sounds normal, I spent so much of my life focused on survival and the here and now, that it sees odd to me to be worrying about the future. Not that the here and now still doesn’t have its troubles, but it seems that life has reached a point where the ship is sailing generally in the direction of choice.

 

My youngest kids are now both teenagers of driving age. They are thinking about their future as adults, trying to understand the world we are giving them. My oldest has been married for almost 3 years now. And my wife is about to turn 50. 

 

Where does the time go? It occurred to me recently that right now I’m the age my father was the day I joined the Navy. I remember the things he told me as I was signing my life away. I trusted his counsel then and here I am now the same age. Do I understand the things he told me from a father’s perspective now? Am I as wise as he was? Would I give my kids the same advice? Am I prepared to see one of my children commit six years of their life to anything?

 

I don’t know. 

 

Aren’t I still that young 20 something guy just trying to stay afloat? No, I am the guy who has run industrial maintenance departments for 2 decades and is know running his own business. 

 

Aren’t I the guy lost in religious chaos just looking for truth and real meaning? No, I’m the guy that planted a church knowing exactly what he was looking for in his faith and religion.

 

Aren’t I the guy looking to find a pretty lady and marry her?  Have some kids and raise a family? No, I’m the guy with an adult married son, a 17 year old young man on his way out the door and a 15 year old daughter not far behind. Because I did marry that pretty lady and she has spent 20 years raising my children.

 

Interestingly enough I’ve become the counselor. People of all ages and walks of life often seek me out regarding business or life or religion or marriage or personal struggles that they belief I can provide meaningful guidance in. I can’t say for sure exactly when I shifted from the young buck struggling in need of direction to the middle age ‘wise’ man but apparently that is the state of things. 

 

I also can’t say I understand why exactly people think I have this thing called wisdom.  Sometimes you just have to trust the reflection people give you of yourself. And apparently my counsel has been found to be useful on at least a few occasions. Because people keep sending new people my way. So much for being a wallflower. 

 

Lots of time to think means lots of self-reflection. How did I get here? Where am I going? What is important to me? 

 

That last one is actually intriguing. I’ve found that there isn’t much I’m passionate about in regards to myself. Certainly my kids and wife and their needs, but outside that, I’m finding I am rather simple.

 

For instance yesterday I spent a few hours in my backyard with my chainsaw cutting up fallen trees. I couldn’t have been happier. Not a care in the world outside of making sure I don’t lose a limb. If you had told me that something as simple and mundane as cutting wood would be joyful and fulfilling to me, I would have laughed. I don’t like simple and mundane. But somehow God has given me this one thing that satiates me. 

 

Someday my kids will all be grown (not long now). I do wonder what will be the focus of my life then?  What will be my priorities then? I feel like I’m entering a new season of life. One which I’m not familiar yet. This current season has been a long one. This new season is upon me. 

 

It reminds me of my first year in Michigan, having moved from LA, we were woefully unprepared for this thing called winter. It was miserable and jarring and chaotic. I hope I’m better prepared for this next season than I was for my first Michigan winter. 

 

What worries me more is are my kids ready for this next season. Their venture into adulthood. My oldest seems to be holding his own. 

 

So, I guess I really am the middle aged semi-wise man. Not sure how I got here. Don’t know where I’m going next. But here I am.  

An Officer and a Gentlemen….

 It seems the only time I write anymore is in response to loss. And this is no exception.

 

Mark Gerger is a man who lived a long life before I ever met him. A policeman, an educator, a detective (to name just a few of his lives), a husband, a father and a solid Christian man of God.

 

By the time we met he was long retired from police work and was serving his church in PA. His daughter, a dear friend, excitedly introduced us on one of his visits back to the place he called home most of his life. I invited them both over for a meal and we had lively conversation sitting on my deck for hours. And thus began a short but blessed friendship.

 

Mark loved to tell stories and he had many many to tell. But where I found we most connected was in wrestling with God together. Somehow our conversations always seemed to end up wrestling through some theological conundrum. It was a joy to watch him wrap his head around a concept and then immediately find real life applications both past and present to the topic at hand. For him the pragmatic connections to life is what mattered. His years of service had exposed him to darkness and hardship, but also joy and growth, all of which he brought into our conversations. It gave him a gentle softness of understanding and compassion that few without his life experience grasp. His failures were ever before him, but he always tried to move forward walking in Christ a life of reconciliation.

 

Even though he had many health challenges in the years of our friendship his only deep worries were his wife and his daughter. He loved them both and it was his passion to find ways to stay in both of their lives. Which was difficult since he lived 600 miles away. He told me so many stories of both of them. While I don’t remember the details of many of the stories, I remember the joy he had telling me about them. He felt blessed and challenged by both of them.

 

No matter his struggle, I never saw his smile fade. His face always was a reflection of the joy within him. A joy that never seemed to fade. I remember visiting him sick in the hospital and he’s just smiling and talking as if we are just chilling at the coffee house. His illness meant nothing to him, only the joy of the conversation in that moment.

 

If you were blessed enough to spend any time with him, he made you smile. His joy for life was contagious.

 

During the heart of Covid isolation we decided to make the most of technology and started a weekly Bible study (him, his daughter and I). We would all read the same chapters throughout the week, we would meet via zoom to enjoy each other’s company and hash through God’s Word.

 

I grew a lot that year. Every week he pushed the envelope to bring us to pragmatic applications of the Word we had read. He forced me to come prepared because he wasn’t a man to back down for any reason and he had deep and difficult insight. It was a great blessing to grow in God’s Word together, especially in the heart of isolation and fear which had cast its dark shadow on our nation. In a world that had gone crazy, we found friendship, companionship, and God together.

 

We never would sit face to face again. Even after he moved back to KZ, he was cautious and kept his distance for health safety.

 

I know that today he is in the house of our Lord in the rooms prepared for him. I know he is free of pain and suffering and has answers that he and I could only debate about. I know his joy is now complete in Christ. But I already miss him. Not that we connected often, but it was always a blessing when we did.

 

In this life my time with him is over. May I grow to be full of joy in all I do as he was.

 

He was my friend, and I will miss him. Praise God that one day I will get to see him again.

December 7th... A day that will live in infamy....

Today my grandmother would have been 110 years old. She is one of the few people from my youth that I have vivid and detailed memories of.

One of the clearest memories was when she told me about Pearl Harbor. It was her 30th birthday. It was devastating and every birthday after was forever changed by that one day. Even 40+ years after the attack the emotion it brought to her still sits in my memory.

I have often tried to connect history with what I know of her. For instance, she loved to dance. She made her own dresses and danced twice a week. She watched Lawrence Welk religiously enthralled by the music and dancing. She enrolled me in tap dancing when I was 5 or 6 (something I wish I had kept up with). Was this because she was a teenager in the roaring 20’s? Was dancing a major part of the Great Depression which started when she was 18? When did her love of dancing begin? I never thought to ask her.

As an adult I have far more questions than I did as a kid. I would love to hear he tell me about the roaring 20’s, the great depression, life during WWII. Things I simply didn’t know about or have any understanding of back then.

For many today is a day to remember Pearl Harbor, and as a veteran it is just as significant a day as 9/11. But for me it’s a yearly reminder of my father’s mother. A woman who always tried to bring out the best in me. Always held me accountable for my actions or lack thereof. Who shared the joys of her life with me and loved me unconditionally. A devout Catholic yet pragmatic enough to stop me from falsely following her religious practices. A lover of life, but one who kept meticulous records and a perfectly maintained home.

I don’t know who she was as a friend, wife, mother ect. But I do know who she was as a grandmother. Someone who touched my life in ways that I will never forget.

And as and adult, a husband, a father I seek to touch those I love with the same lasting impact. May I live to be the grandfather my grandchildren never forget. May I be the father who's children love and respect him all their days. May I be the husband who shares a long meaningful life with his beloved bride.

And may I see my grandmother in heaven one day.

But God…

There are moments in life that have profound and lasting impacts on you.  Moments which push you to seek the truth about yourself.  Moments that God uses to speak to you. I think I’ve just been through one such moment. 

As long as I can remember I’ve had a low self-esteem.  And somehow, I always found someone or many someone’s to keep me moving forward in life.  I have ridden the wave of the amazing people in my life for decades now.  I have always had some inkling of this combined with the foundation that God gave me through my very rough youth.  

 

September 28th one of those amazing persons, one of my oldest friends died.  A member of what was known as ‘the tree people’ and the even closer group ‘the guys’.  His death stemmed what would be a very long two plus weeks of laughter, tears, struggles, and love.  

 

When I found out he died I immediately contacted his oldest brother (one of my best friends JB).  After a few failed attempts to find my way back to LA to just be there for whoever may need me, his brother jumped in his car and began another crazy road trip to pick me up (we’ve been known to take crazy road trips for decades).  He drove all evening and then I drove all night until both of us were back in California (the place where our lifelong friendship began).  

 

Over the next two weeks I would be reminded of the amazing life I’ve been blessed with.  A life I’ve often looked back on through a negative pane.  I would be reminded of friendships (family) that even though it’s been a very long time apart (some decades) would forever be a foundational part of who I am.  I would get to experience how much I love them.  We would spend time travelling down memory lane in joy and sorrow.  We would be reminded of times of struggle and sorrow that forged us together and other times of joy, and rampant carelessness that bonded us.  Memories that would make us all ask, how the hell did any of us make it through, yet alone how did almost all of us become grounded in God, blessed with family and gifted with relative success in life.  

 

I would get to see the youth grown up and their amazing lives and families that had developed while I was away.  

 

And I would reconnect with friendships that had been damaged, and seemingly lost, that suddenly were not.  Because you just don’t get to replace the people who became your rocks in life during your youth.  And I would be amazed at how despite the long gap of time, it was just like yesterday.  

 

The first week was what I will call support.  Primarily spent with the family of the deceased, doing whatever was needed.  The hardest day was spent with the new widow as we worked side by side to go through his things.  Or maybe it was time spent watching his parents, who need care, talking with his little brother or oldest sister or even his sister-in-law.  Spending time together trying to solve the mystery of ‘what now?’.  Living in memories, but also living in the current moment of joy and pain.  And being reminded of God’s providence in life and death.  

 

The second week was the emotional week.  Everywhere I turned there was someone from my past whom I knew.  Someone who like me was grieving the sudden loss of a brother who passed ‘before his time’.  I don’t actually believe anyone passes before their time.  God’s will is God’s will and no one goes to Him outside of His will.  My friend’s time was now.  We just didn’t know it or expect it.  

 

I heard some survivors guilt.  I heard the ‘I should have…’ statements.  I saw genuine pain, loss and sorrow.  But in the midst of this I saw the bonds of love and friendship that I’ve taken for granted for so long.  I saw the support of a ‘family’ that isn’t of blood, but of time, of joy, of longsuffering, of tears.  

 

I also had the opportunity to visit my old church.  Only for a brief window but enough to be embraced by a Christian fellowship I left behind.  To be reminded of simple things like a letter of gratitude remembered or a gift given and never forgotten.  The warm hug of a friend whose life changed me.  To reconnect with the wife and children of another good friend who passed not too long ago.  To see the lasting impact of the simplest acts of love and kindness.  A pastor who continues to be a great friend and mentor.  A Church that blessed me and even now continues to bless me.  A model which I’ve tried to mimic in my current place, in my current church.  A sharp reminder of God’s blessings in my life.  

 

In this one brief two-week window God opened my eyes to all He has done for me in my life.  Instilled in me a deep and unmeasurable gratitude for the many pieces of a life puzzle that I never could have imaged making sense together. Nor could have planned to assemble in my wildest dreams.  

 

There was one sentiment that I think we all shared.  Let’s not allow this renewed fire of life and appreciation for each other dwindle.  Let’s not forget the blessing God has given us until the next passing of life.  For we are without excuse.  Words easy to say in the midst of the emotional highs and lows.  Much harder to hold to when the emotional swell is gone, and life returns to the mundane or survival of our current existence. It’s a high bar to set.  Family and friendship is work.  It requires sacrifice and time commitments and intent.  All things which seem hard to come by.  

 

As I shared this with my wife, her first comment was, “Don’t forget about your family as well?”  In many ways I have better bonds with family through friendship, than family through blood.  See there are fences to mend there as well.  But she is right.  I simply can’t allow life to let me give up or not care just because we are thousands of miles apart.  I can’t stop the work of reaching out in love regardless of the response.    

 

God has gifted me with family both blood and otherwise.  He has forged us as such.  And no time or distance can change that.  But time and distance can and has caused complacency and acceptance of a disconnect that family should never allow.  For God has chosen these people to be my rocks.  And he has likewise chosen me to be their rocks.  

 

I’ve seen a few deaths in my lifetime.  But this was the first death of one of ‘the guys’.  This was a strike to the core group of men who have always been there for me.  And even though I wasn’t close to Jules in the second half of his life, he was a foundational part to the friendship and family I was reminded of as we all gathered to remember him.  I miss him not because we spent so much time together in these later years, but because some people simply are a part of you.  As one of ‘the guys’ said, I never would have known any of you if it wasn’t for Jules.  How different would all of our lives have been without each other?  

 

This time, this place, these people….  How blessed am I; I simple can’t measure.  God’s providence and foreordained plan for my life.  Thank you God.

 

Psalms 139:16

“Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

 

But God….  

 

20 Years Ago I was just a young and foolish Sailor

24 years and 8 months ago I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.  In truth I didn’t understand what I was doing that day.  I didn’t know what I didn’t know.  I was just a floundering 20-year-old with no direction.  So, I volunteered 6 years of my life for something I couldn’t possibly fathom.  

3 years and 9 months later the USS Cole was bombed killing 17 US Sailors and injuring more.  Just a little over one month later, my ship (CVN 75 USS Harry S Truman) set sail on its first ever deployment.  Every port we pulled into was exciting, but also concerning.  The Cole was on our mind on every port, especially in the Persian Gulf.  

We cancelled a port visit to Israel due to conflicts and concerns.  We crossed the Suez followed by and military jeep with a 50 cal pointed at us the whole way. We settled patrol in the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch (google it).  We stopped in Dubai and Bahrain.  896 combat sorties were flown.  We cancelled another port visit in Bahrain.  It was hot, so hot they set limits on our time in the engine room, it was miserable, it was what we were there to do.  

You might think a ship the size of an Aircraft Carrier was plenty big.  Spend months at a time on such a ship and you will learn just how small it really is.  A city that never sleeps and requires constant manning to perform its mission.  A place where rest is something you catch when you can, meals are things you are grateful when you get them, and the world outside doesn’t exist.  Though the occasional letter or care package will remind you that there is a place called home somewhere on the other side of the planet that you will return to someday.  Every port visit is a short reprieve which rejuvenates you and prepares you for the next stretch of time at sea.  And every missed port visit is a reminder that there is an enemy that wants to do you harm.  

Your shipmates become your friends, brothers, and sisters.  Those who hold you up and carry your through from day to day, hour to hour.  So, you all can keep the ship moving, keep it ready, keep it on task and on mission.  Spend countless hours at the bottom of a ship with the same people and you will form bonds that simply are unbreakable.      

We returned home in May one week shy of a full 6-month deployment.  September 5^th, we docked at Portsmouth shipyard.  And then I took my first leave in a long time.  

September 11th I was still in the first week of my leave.  I woke up on the sofa of one of my oldest and best friends.  His wife shook me awake.  She directed my attention to the television.  I asked her what movie she was watching.  I don’t even remember her response.  But I can still see the second plane hit.  Can’t say I remember much more about that day beyond that single moment.  I watched videos to get the whole picture since then, but as for me, I only remember that moment.    

All air travel was immediately shut down.  My command told me to stay until I could fly back (being in the shipyard there was no urgency to deploy or find alternative ways to get me back to Virginia).  The time I spent at home, while good to spend time with family and friends, was overshadowed by this attack on US soil.  It was a time of gratitude to be spending time with people I loved, but always somber.  

I served 15 more months in the Navy on board the Truman.  I saw the transformation in how the Navy operated.  I saw the transformation in air travel.  I saw the transformation in a nation that was enraged and ready to face the enemy that attacked us.  

December 5, 2002 was my last day on active duty.  I sat on the pier with a friend and fellow shipmate who was also on his last day.  We watched as our ship set off on its second deployment without us.  Both of us grateful to know our service was complete.  

The America I returned to (one again a civilian) was not the same.  We had changed in ways that are hard to describe.  

For two decades we have been engaged in war because of that day.  At first the news was committed to keeping us informed.  But as time passed the ongoing war simply became forgotten.  You didn’t talk about the middle east conflict unless you knew someone that was deployed.  But just because we no longer talked about doesn’t mean it wasn’t still going on. 

I’ve had decades to think about my service and the service of others.  To think about what it means to send young men and women into harms way.  To think about not just the what but the why.  To think about the two attacks that occurred against the US on my watch.  To think about the oath I swore and grow to understand that my service may be complete but my oath is not.  To learn to appreciate all of those who serve in the various roles and actions.  To know that all military/veterans see through a lens that you simply can’t explain to those who haven’t served.  And that our call to serve is never-ending.  

On May 1, 2003 (just 5 months after my enlistment ended) President Bush declared victory in Iraq.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.  But the war continued both in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It continued through the end of his Presidency.  It continued through Obama’s Presidency.  And it continued through Trump’s Presidency.  Regardless of what you think of President Biden or his exit from Afghanistan, the war that started 20 years ago is now over. 

I don’t know what that actually means.  In one way shape or form, the US has been involved in conflicts in the middle east my entire life.  I suspect that we will be threatened again and will once again send our young men and women into harm’s way (not that we aren’t continually doing so at various places around the world).  History will repeat itself.  It always does.  

My grandmother was born on December 7^th.  She once told me that her birthday was never the same after Pearl Harbor.  My sister is born on September 11^th.  She has told me the same.

I am blessed to live in America at this time.  To have been born into a time and place of freedom not often seen throughout history.  And while I often cringe and worry about the direction we are headed, there is still no other place or time I would want to be in.  God has been gracious to me and all of us in this gift.  I don’t know how long this great experiment will last.  244 years is a short time in the age of nation.  But for now, we get to push forward with this grand idea that freedom is possible and to be pursued.  

I’m grateful for the lifelong friends I now have because of my time in the Navy.  I’m grateful for the unity we all share in the life we lived together.  I’m grateful for the combined wisdom and knowledge and understand we are all able to bring to each other.  And I’m grateful we all did so during a dark time when evils of unimaginable nature occurred. 

20 years ago, terrorist seized control of numerous airplanes intent on flying them into symbols of our nation.  Almost all of them succeeded.  3000 people died.  Some of them were the brave men/women who had one goal, to save as many people as they could regardless of the risk to themselves.  Some of them were those who fought the hijackers and prevented them from being fully successful in their plans at the cost of their own lives.  None of them thought it was their last day on earth.  It was just Tuesday morning.  There is still much mystery in the 9/11 story.  I’m not going to dig into the various conspiracy theories that exist (some plausible, some not).  But today, I admire and honor those who gave their lives that day, when I was just a young foolish lad in the Navy.  

There is now a generation that doesn’t know the world before 9/11.  For them this has just always been part of history.  Just as my grandmother tried to help me understand what December 7^th meant to her, we should continue to teach our children not just what but why 9/11 is a day most of us can never forget.  We should try to show them the world we once knew and help them to understand that we are blessed with the great gift of living in America.  That to this day people around the world make great sacrifices just for the opportunity to live in the nation we have been born into.  And the gifts we are blessed with are not to be taken lightly, but to be cherished, defended, fought for.  That there are those who have died in defense of those ideas.  

I’ve heard the question asked, “Where was God on 9/11?”  Well, He has been here all along.  And His Grace and goodness will continue to abound despite efforts to hate, anger, terrorize and perform so many other acts of sin and depravity.  After 9/11, for a short while at least, I saw a nation united.  A nation that served a cared and supported each other.  May we never forget that there is great blessings in the service of our fellow man. 

My prayer is that God will continue to bless America with His rich graces.  That He will use our home, our nation to further spread His gospel to the nations of the world.  That my children and grandchildren will not face terror, but peace and prosperity.  That the dream of our founding fathers may continue for generations to come.  That freedom will continue to be paramount in our nation.  

May God bless us this day of remembrance.  

The End of the Great Experiment

Today marked the end of the term of the only US President who wasn’t a politician and wasn’t military.  Prior to this time, I had spent endless hours hypothesizing what such a person in the oval office would be like.  Historians, political guru’s and even average American’s will long ponder what the last four years was really about.  I couldn’t possibly begin to summarize the data from the Great Experiment in this one post.  

Trump was a President who broke the mold.  He was brazen, bold, belligerent, and blatantly offensive.  He was the head of a political war the likes of which I’ve never seen.  There were no sacred cows, not even the media.  I have nothing to even compare him to.  

 

The media war combined with Twitter led to the first time in history that the President was in the limelight every day of his tenure.  Which meant politics was in the face of the American people nonstop for 4 years.  This has never happened before.  Even for a political nut like myself, this was simply too much.  I went from being a political junky to a political recluse.  And everyone was suddenly a political expert.  And when everyone is an expert, no one is an expert.  America lost its mind.

 

So why do I call it the Great Experiment?  Because in my wildest imagination, I never could have come up with a more perfect national setting that tested humanity on many levels, in a way that could be observed.  While the politicians, the media and many people throughout the world focused on Trump, I focused on everyone else. 

 

What do you mean everyone else?  Just what I said, I watched Congress, Democrats, Republicans, world leaders, military leaders, judges, the masses on social media, various journalist on many platforms, religious leaders, my fellow American’s of which I engaged in many forums, philosophers, and such.  I used social media, podcast, many news organizations, friends, connections, official documents, and anything I could acquire to measure the world and its reaction to this bold figure that was glaring in everyone’s face.  I wanted to know not just what they were doing but why they were doing it. 

 

The first thing that became apparent to me was the shift in political strategies.  Politics has always been ugly, but the knife twisting usually was kept behind closed doors.  But the media war with Trump first brought them to their defensive heals and then shifted them to a full on offensive.  Politicians in Congress soon followed suit.  

 

Suddenly we found ourselves seeing the dirt of politics out in the open. At the same time social media and regular media brought the fight into our living rooms, into our pockets and laid it out before us in an onslaught that was far too overwhelming to understand or wrap our heads around.  

 

You would have to have lived and breathed politics all day long to have any hopes of keeping up.  And the mass of ‘experts’ and social media brought so much information to the forefront in record time, that the waters of each event were muddied almost instantly.  It was an investigators worst nightmare.  Even for someone like me who had habitually dug into political events, it was just impossible to sift through the noise.  On top of the noise, the rate of events increased to a point where the next event was occurring before you even heard of the current event.  

 

In the absence of real information the world delved into a chasm of subjectiveness and misinformation.  So, what was I to do?  I shifted my own strategy.  I knew I couldn’t possibly keep up with the onslaught, but I could keep up with policy, and at the end of the day, political policy is what impacts the average American, not political pandering.  

 

It meant mostly ignoring the social media rants, news rants and Twitter wars.  It meant gleaning for the nuggets that would lead to the polices to see what was actually being done.  

 

It was a scary confirmation of everything I’ve always suspected about politicians.  House of Cards couldn’t hold a candle to what was going on.  

 

On the left was an all-out strategy to weaponize every tool of politics (including impeachment) to bring down the President.  On the right was a bizarre splitting and reunification under a President that simply didn’t belong in the GOP narrative.  Trying to hold to the image of the 'conservative right' while dealing with the image of the Trumpian right.  One image was winning and it was hard not to get on board.  

 

In the midst of this storm, we had an astounding process of domestic deregulation and implementation of almost libertarian statutes.  In the foreign arena there was more noise as world leaders flounder in their positions of whether to support and work with or outright disdain the “Leader of the Free World”.  The military was rapidly expanded and even the crazy North Korean despot was brought to the table when faced with the uncertainty of a most unpredictable US President.  All while countless US leaders came into, provided support for and then were driven out of the fold of Trumps arena.  

 

Trump took Twitter by storm and poked the bear of the media and politicians who hated him. And over and over again took the bait leading to the craziest retaliations imaginable.  It was political chaos on a grand level.  

 

By the end of the 3^rd year of this experiment the left and media was unified against Trump and the right had seemingly unified under Trump (very unexpectedly).  The stage was set for what would be the most politically enflamed year of my life.  

 

2020 brought two major issues.  COVID 19 and BLM/Police brutality.  

 

The first should have never become the political nightmare that it was.  COVID 19 demonstrated that anything can be used as a political weapon.  Even something that should have had nothing to do with politics.  And once it was politicized the data became ambiguous at best and out right contradictory at worst.  From Congress all the way down to the lay man on the street was a divide based upon the ‘data’ that each side chose to believe.  

 

BLM demonstrated how vastly different the right and left are.  An already desperate America became a violent America and burned and looted its own communities to the ground all across the nation.  Both sides claiming the moral high ground.  Both sides enraged by the actions of the other.  Neither side yielding.  

 

Combined these became the political fight of the year.  And the degrees of depravity and destruction on a massive scale that our leaders and our citizens were willing to drag us to in order to gain political capital was beyond awful.  The level of hate and disdain that stirred at the ground level resulted in violence, rage, pettiness, loss of wealth, jobs, homes, friends, and much much more.  

 

I could go on, but we all were there. I for one learned just how ugly we can be.  How blind we can be.  And how dirty our politicians truly are.  I suspect there is still even more twistedness going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about.  And I watched the once narrow political divide between the two parties become a Grand Canyon like chasm.  

 

The great experiment revealed the darkness that has been brewing in America for a long time.  It unleashed that darkness, and the genie will be hard to put back in the bottle.  Many will say this is a new evil, but I rather believe it’s always been there, and we have always been this way.  We just didn’t wear it on our sleeves like a badge of honor.  We didn’t parade around like a peacock fanning its feathers.  To this day both sides are proud of what they stood for and disgusted to the point of hate and rage at who and what they stood against.  

 

Moral high ground eh?  Clearly we have lost the meaning.

 

I have to wonder, has a new door been opened for the potential of another future ‘outsider’?  Will I ever see another non-politician President?  Do I want to?  Is there anyone who could stand in that furnace facing the heat of the media and the politicians and social media in an endless onslaught and still be left standing, if they didn’t have the abrasiveness and unapologetic attitude of Trump?  Is Trump the example of the only type of outsider that stands a chance to carry the mantle in the cesspool of US politics?  

 

I know for many on the right, that is exactly the sentiment.  “We didn’t particularly like him but we needed him in that office”.  Is it possible for a more Ron Paulesqe outsider to rise to power and survive in that furnace?  I’d still like to think so, but at this time, if I’m honest, my hope in that possibility is gone.  

 

Trump did something that has never been done before.  He rose past all the seasoned politicians as an outsider to become President of the United States.  So we know that it is at least possible.  

 

But he also exposed and brought to the forefront the ugliness of American politics.  An ugliness that they will try to hide and pretend never happened and doesn’t exist.  An ugliness I am certain will be brought forth to bear on any future outsider.  Who would want to step into that arena that is worth having in that arena?

 

Even worse it’s an ugliness that is still alive and well on the floors of Congress as they try to destroy each other openly.  An ugliness that I fear is now to be the norm.  

 

Today as we move forward where do we stand?  

 

We have a 47 year politician as President.  We certain can’t expect him to do anything outside the politically expedient box.  A true ‘reed in the political wind’ politician. 

 

We have a Democratic house divided.  2020 brought rise to the voice of the ‘Progressive’ left which is at war with the liberal left. 

 

We have a GOP divided.  Pro Trump and anti-Trump camps.  

 

We don’t know who will come out on top in either of those two arenas.  

We have a Congress actively engaged in a civil war.  Our courts are mysteriously silent.  Our governors are no more united than the rest of us.  Our mayors are blaming everyone but themselves.  Our sheriff's are defying our governors.  Our citizens are opening shaming and judging those who oppose them.  Our industry is shutting down dissenting voices.  Our performers are pretending to be politicians. 

Our small businesses are dying on the vine of shutdown.  Our schools are drowning in division and failing to teach our kids.  

We have angry American’s on all sides.  We live in fear of being accused or exposed.  We live in fear of being able to survive.  We live in fear of a most uncertain future.  

"Hate your next door neighbor, but don't forget to say Grace,

And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,

Ah, you don't believe we're on the Eve of Destruction"

The nation holds its breath not knowing what to expect of life after the experiment.  Some rejoice believing a great victory has been won and a new era of peace and prosperity will be rung in.  But others fear with great trembling what the future holds.  There are cries of unity and peace, all while the embers of the chaos are still glowing hot.  

 

All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

 

At this time more than ever I am grateful that God reigns over His creation.  I may not know what man will do, but I know God has a good plan and we can’t thwart it.  I’m made keenly aware of just how small I am and how little of the world I can even influence.  And I’m driven to stay focused on the coin God has given me to invest in the world within my scope of influence.  To trust in the Lord when the world seems in chaos is a challenge and test of faith.  One that I know I fail at daily, but I’m trying.  

 

1Why do the nations rage^a
and the peoples plot in vain?
2The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
3“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”

4He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”

2020 ~ A test of faith

Last year began with our government in the middle of an impeachment of our President.  An event that can be counted on one hand in terms of historical occurrences.  No one could have imagined that this would be the most normal thing to happen in 2020. 

 

The remainder of 2020 was dominated by two things.  Covid 19 and mass unrest in the name BLM and racial injustice.  It’s hard to say which of the two was more divisive.  But both had huge and lasting impacts on our nation.  There is no way to measure the economic, social and political devastation of 2020.  Lives have been destroyed, businesses collapsed, infrastructures decimated.  And as the nation grew apart, information became impossible to obtain or verify true.  Desperation came to countless numbers as loss became commonplace.  

 

2020 was clearly the year of disinformation indoctrination.  And the masses took a stand on one side of the other swallowing whole without questions the ‘facts’ as presented by their side.  The opposing side was viewed as ignorant, hateful, unpatriotic, unsympathetic and evil.  The level of hatred from both sides reached levels I’ve never seen before.  

 

Now as a right leaning libertarian there is very little from the left that I’ve ever supported.  And there is much on the right that I don’t support as well.  That has historically been a stable political perspective for me because the DNC and GOP were never really that different.  It was easy to disdain both of them.  But today, for the first time in my recollection in my life, they truly are very different parties (at least at the Federal level).  It’s a bit shocking to see such a strong contrast between them.  But what has become clear is the corruption of our government and the absolute lack of morality and care for the common American.  Power at any cost has been the clear mantra of 2020.  And unlike in the past, the dirty politics of our nation were on full display via social media and supported by the right and left media, which are no longer represent objective journalism, but are just a extensions of the political arms of the right and left.  This brought the bulk of America into the political world for probably the first time ever (historically most American’s are oblivious to politics).  This also drove both sides to spin the information in their favor with wanton disregard for truth or objectivity.   Thus, the disinformation indoctrination of America was like a hurricane that lasted for the whole year.  

 

In the middle of a nation in chaos, I joined the rapidly growing ranks of the unemployed for the first time in 12 years and 2 days.  You would think this would have been devastating.  But the truth is it’s the best thing to happen to me in years.  

 

As a Christian I believe in the providence of God.  Knowing that He is in control and that He is a good and loving God, I know He has a good plan for me.  This has been a huge comfort in what otherwise could be viewed as a horrible time.  

 

For the first time in almost 17 years, I felt at rest.  I didn’t have the weight of the insanity of corporate leadership tying my hands while asking me to build the taj majal in two days.  Then getting mad at me when I couldn’t do it.  And I knew this was where God wanted me.  

 

But I did suddenly have my eyes opened to other parts of my life that had been lacking.  Time with my wife, time with my kids, physical exercise, time in God’s Word, time with my neighbors, time with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and time with my extended family.  All things which I had been neglecting in my focus on my career.  And it is in these things which I’ve been truly blessed in 2020.

 

I’ve spent so much time with my wife, I’m certain she can’t wait to ship me off to any job that will give her some space.  I’ve taken my children kayaking, hiking, biking, boating, ect.  I’ve taking a direct role in their education, taking over their study of science.  I’ve begun exercising for the first time in years (and man, this middle-aged guy is out of shape).  I’ve reengaged the Word of God and am being pleasantly fed by said Word in ways I know I have needed and neglected.  I’ve spent countless hours with neighbors, turning our little cul-de-sac into a commune of people who I can rely on and trust.  And even among the isolation of CVD I’ve managed to connect with many of my Christian brother and sister as well as family members I’ve had trouble staying connected too since moving to Michigan.  

 

It’s been a drastic redirection of my priorities.  I know I can no longer put aside any of those things for ‘later’, but must keep them all at the forefront of my life.  

 

As I venture into 2021 I do so not knowing what is in store for me.  The uncertainty of my nation, my career, my financial stability are all before me.  But this I know.  What I gained in 2020 is beyond value and I need to cling to it.  God blessed me with an amazing life here in Michigan.  A life which I feel I’m only now beginning to appreciate.  And as I pursue my financial / career future I know I don’t want to do so at the cost of what I have gained.  

 

And as my financial uncertainty lingers, I find myself more and more holding to the hope found in God’s providence over my life.  Because there are definitely times of anxiety the longer the uncertainty lasts.  Which isn’t to say there are no signs of hope and opportunity, but the realization of those signs is yet to come.  

 

I had become comfortable in my own ability to keep my head above water.  But this year has reminded that all I have is from God and it is in Him alone that I should place my hope for the future.  Which is really hard to do when you still have a wife, three kids and a mortgage looming over your proverbial shoulders.  I want to know that I’m in control and that I’ve got the plan that is going to keep us afloat and moving forward.  But over the last 8 months it has become clear to me that my best laid plans are just that, plans.  It is God who leads and God who gives and God who provides.  It’s humbling to acknowledge that; to trust in that; to hold to hope, not in myself, but in my Lord.  

 

But this year has also helped me to put trust in God for my nation.  Being a political junky I’ve often focused on our political system and pursued directions I felt we should go.  2020 definitely was no exception.  But as I’ve watched our nation divide and spiral into binary chaos, knowing that nothing I think should happen is happening, I find I must trust this also to God.  Don’t get me wrong, I am very anxious for what our nation is yet to face.  I am fairly confident 2021 is staged for just as much (if not more) chaos than 2020.  Our nation is divided beyond a level it can ever be repaired in my opinion.  And when you have to forces as angry and polar opposite as the left and right are today, you can be certain there will be a spark that ignites the tinder box.  I am not looking forward to 2021.  Yet I am confident that God has a good path forward.  This may mean worse things for our nation than we’ve already seen.  But God works through the chaos of life for His own good purpose.  

 

In my life both internal and external, 2020 was a year of growth and faith.  It was a year of sorrow and joy.  A year of desperation and hope.  As the Union I was born into moves in chaos, I’ve been blessed to no longer dwell in a major city or place of turmoil, but in a quiet little village, in a private little cul-de-sac surrounded by family, friends, neighbors and Godly wisdom.  With an amazing little church full of amazingly loving believers who share their lives and fellowship with me. I give praise and thanks to God for bringing me to this place at this time.  And while I have anxiety regarding my career and future, I trust that God who is faithful will continue to provide.  

 

I started writing this thinking I would expound on my fears for our nation under the foreseeable leadership in the foreseeable years.  But instead, I have been reminded of God and his providence in all we face.  My fears are still there.  I fully expect the worst of them to come to fruition.  And I pray for God’s sustaining hand in weathering whatever storms are coming our way.  

 

So hang on because “This is all far from over…” (name the movie bro).

A journey through the twilight zone of 2020 and before...

 

I was raised in the ghettos of liberal Los Angeles.  Most everyone I knew and went to school with were Democratic/left leaning.  I was raised in the time of Reagan and Bush with conservative Republican parents (all four of them).  So even at a young age my exposure to both sides of the political spectrum was a constant.  And from about junior high on I’ve been a political junky.  I always wanted to understand the what and the why.  I’ve studied politics from all sides most of my life. 

 

At age 20 I joined the US Navy.  It was during this six-year journey into the world at large that I truly developed my own understanding, beyond the limits of my LA experience, of the world, politics, religion, ect.  I discovered libertarianism and this unknown congressman who would post all of his congressional speeches online named Ron Paul.  I couldn’t believe that he was actually a Congressman.  I mean who would elect this guy to Congress.  He makes too much sense.  That rabbit hole led me into a political worldview that is neither Democrat nor Republican.  I want what is just and good for everyone.  And neither party represents that. 

 

For the last 24 years I have always voted my conscience.  The two-party system had become the same party, so it really didn’t matter who wins.  And when Ron Paul ran for President in 2008 and 2012 you better believe I voted for him.  I still have his 2008 sticker on my jeep.  The only politician I’ve openly supported and promoted (and likely the only one I ever will).  Yes, I knew he didn’t have a chance in hell of winning, but he earned my vote. 

 

In 2015 a very strange thing happened.  The billionaire lifetime Democrat, friend of Hollywood and the liberal left threw in his hat as a Republican Presidential Candidate.  At first, I was just entertained because he’s no politician and he was just destroying the ‘conservative’ politicians on the stage.  But then he started gaining steam.   I predicted he would win the Republican primary long before any thought he would.  I also predicted he would beat Hillary in the main election contrary to everything the polls were saying. 

 

I voted for Trump in the 2016 election.   It was the first time I voted for a Republican to be President.  It’s not that I liked Trump or even thought he was going to do a good job.  But he wasn’t really a Republican.  The Libertarians put up Gary Johnson (ugh) and I wanted to see what I call the great experiment.  I wanted to see a President that wasn’t a politician nor ex-military.  We have never had that.  And I believed this may be the only chance I would ever get to see it.  So, I voted for the experiment because man, I had to see what, if anything would be different. 

 

I’ve never trusted the media, so it wasn’t hard for me to see their bias.  But me being me, I always watch various media (you need to know what people you disagree with are saying if you want to understand them).  The first two years of Trump’s Presidency was the most amazing shift in politics and media of our lifetime.  Never before had the POTUS been the focus of the media daily.  This change in journalism changed politics drastically, because suddenly everything was political constantly. 

 

Trump being the media loving guru he is, took Twitter by storm.  Something no one in politics had ever done.  And he never let up and wielded it like a knife to poke whatever bear he felt like poking.  And the media got sucked in and ate it up.  The war between the media and the POTUS was something never before seen.  And it has endured for four years.  And it’s been the most absurd shitshow I never imagined for four years. 

 

That was all there was.  And because the media kept the President in our faces constantly, suddenly everyone became a political expert overnight.  Politics, which has been my hobby almost 30 years, suddenly was everyone’s forte.  And I shifted from being very outspoken politically to being an observer, because quite frankly with all the noise it was simply hard enough just keeping up with the sudden onslaught of data (good, bad, fake and otherwise).  It was a very unfamiliar place for me, but it was also the most amazing social experiment ever.  And social media fed not only the chaos but exposed the chaos for all to see.  All I had to do was sit and watch the show.  Watch the greatest social experiment ever unfold before my eyes.

 

The Republicans floundered because.. well because Trump isn’t a Republican but he won the Presidency on the Republican ticket.  The conservatives were torn because Trump offended their sense of propriety and challenged their core views as the leader of their party.  They became and still are a party divided.  Though I will say in the last 12 months they have shifted to get behind Trump.

 

The Democrats and the media both quickly realized that politics as usual don’t work with Trump.  He simply didn’t care.  They started to throw every ‘gotcha’ at him they could thinking with each one they had him, but somehow every time when the dust settled, there he was still standing.  And this went on nonstop for the first three years.  So, they started changing their tactics.  And with each change they peeled away a layer of the political veil of correctness than they had always hidden behind.  They, of their own doing, revealed the man behind the curtain. 

 

And so, for four years we have seen what had always been there but had never been out in the open.  The nature of true politics.  The left bias of the media was solidified, and the dirty tactics of politicians were brought to the forefront in hopes of taking down this man unworthy of the office they all coveted.  The staunch conservative right was shown to be built on sand and washed away into an unrecognizable mess. 

 

What I have found so enthralling these past four years is that with all of the ammo Trump provided them to use, they still found it politically expedient to twist everything and make stuff up over and over and over again.  I don’t know how many times I thought about what they could have said of substance against Trump rather than the nonsense they were shoveling. 

 

In fact, so much bad information was injected by the media, politicians and social media it became virtually impossible to find the truth anywhere.  My hobby of politics became an unimaginably difficult undertaking. 

 

I have done what I always do, which is dig through the noise and try to see what the pertinent data was in each scenario.  But the scenarios were coming at a speed that I couldn’t keep up with. 

 

I had to change my strategy.  I started to ignore news, media and especially twitter and just focus on policy.  It’s the only thing of substance I could keep up with.  And what I found astounded me.   Trump was deregulating at a rate and in ways I’d never imagined; in ways I never thought I would see from any President.  It was a libertarian’s dream.  He was actually enforcing immigration laws.  He pushed through Congress an actual tax cut.  This liberal Democrat was implementing some of the most conservative polices I’d ever seen.  WHAT?!?!?!?!?  What dystopian Twilight Zone is this?

 

His foreign police I wasn’t impressed with at all.  He was letting his generals run the show and it was business as usual in the middle east.  But then he got Russia to the table followed by North Korea.  It’s been 70 years since anyone has gotten North Korea to the table.  WHAT?!?!?!?  Overall I still don’t have much positive to say about his foreign policy other than, he isn’t a blatant warmonger like every other President of the last 50 years. 

 

By the end of his third year in office the domestic economy was booming in a way we haven’t seen in ages.  Unemployment was at all time low, wages were up, stocks were up.  And I kept waiting for the bubble to burst.  Bubbles always burst and in my mind, this was an economic bubble (especially the stock market). But it didn’t. 

 

By mid-year 2019 I predicted, unless there was a major economic crash or some other major catastrophe, Trump would easily win again.  American’s historically vote with their wallets and American’s were sitting pretty on Trumps watch.  Even the voters of color were shifting in Trumps direction.

 

At this point I wasn’t sure if I wanted the experiment to continue.  But then again it had been an entertaining ride so far.  But I always vote my conscience and wanted to see who would be in the field of play.  I mean Trump is a bombastic asshole.  And I’m a Ron Paul libertarian by heart. 

 

The Democratic debates were in full swing and for me there was one candidate that stood out as principled and a critical thinker.  Tulsi Gabbard.  I knew she didn’t have a chance, but she got farther than I anticipated.  If the left had the wherewithal to nominate a principled candidate, like Tulsi, she would have given Trump a run for his money (just as Bernie would have in 2016 had they not torpedoed his candidacy).  You win elections by pulling from the middle, not the fringe and Tusli would have absolutely pulled Republicans / Libertarians to her side.  But alas they towed the political line and pushed Biden to the top. 

 

The impeachment was a wash as expected.  And so, by January I was pretty confident in my prediction of a Trump win.  Then the test of my theory sprung its head and the catastrophe that is COVID-19 reared its head. 

 

In February I said two things.  First, I saw the beginning of lockdown and the economic chaos before us and scrapped my predictions because the economic collapse was upon us.  Second, I said that if the lock-downs weren’t short, riots were coming. 

 

COVID was big so I dug hard to find the best resources.  A 17-year-old kid put together an amazing data website that I used for many months to track trends and figure out for myself what was going on.  It’s amazing how much was known early on, yet we continued with the economic destruction anyway.  And 8 months later if isn’t clear that this is political, you aren’t paying attention.  If this was strictly science policy wouldn’t be divided along red and blue state lines. 

 

Then the riots began.  And while I expected them, I didn’t expect the degree and duration.  I was in LA during the Rodney King riots.  It was a scary time, and everyone was trying to quell it, even Rodney King.  What really threw me for a loop was that there were leaders on the left that not only were not trying to quell it, but that were calling it a positive thing.  WAIT?!?!?  WHAT?!?!  Rioting, looting, burning, assault and murder is a good thing?  Are they really saying that?  Holy shit. 

 

Their hatred of Trumps was so much that they considered it better to watch their cities implode than accept help from the Federal government.

 

I was laid off in May, so I’ve had a lot of time to pay attention to all the details around COVID 19 and the rioting.  Who is doing what?  What is saying what?  What is really happening? 

 

When Biden nominated Harris (for clearly political reasons, because the lady called him a racist, was destroyed during the primaries, and doesn’t align with Joe on a lot… among other things) it was clear to me that in 2020 the two-party system had chasmed.  For the first time since I took up my political hobby as a teenager I could see a massive gap between the two parties. 

 

So, what’s going on here?

 

The Republicans fractured but then reunited mostly.  There are some that couldn’t stand with Trump but for the most part the party has united behind him (who saw that coming?).  There has been a defection to the left from some.  And rightly so, because the GOP of today is not the GOP of even 3 years ago.  However interestingly enough, because Trump is a Democrat, the party as a whole has actually shifted more center.  Not something that has happened in a long while.  At the ground level it’s harder to measure because even those who support Trump aren’t verbalizing it. 

 

The Democrats (not politicians) are seeing a defection to the right due to the mainstream party embracing what was once extreme views.  I’ve talked to countless lifetime Democrats that have told me they just have nothing in common with the current DNC.  The ‘walkaway’ movement which is Democrats shifting right to Trump is by contrast very verbal in their reasoning.  I truly believe if the DNC was still the party of Mondale or Clinton (Bill not Hillary) they would not be seeing this exodus.  But the DNC has shifted so for to the extreme that even stalwart Democrats are cringing.

 

So, we have a crossover of support both ways.  Not something you see often.  Actually, if I think about it, I’ve never seen this. 

 

The Democratic party is in full-fledged political mode swaying like a read to position themselves for the votes they want driven by the hatred of Trump.  Policies.. yeah, not this elections cycle.  Their policy is ‘We hate Trump and WE are not Trump”.   The Democratic party has shifted farther left than it’s ever been.  So far left that Bernie became a non-issue because he no longer stood out in the crowd of candidates. 

 

This extreme shift is what has caused the chasm.  Our two-party system, rather than be essentially a one-party system as it has been for decades, really is a two-party system again.  And it has scared me.  See if Biden wins, then the 2020 platform of the left wins.  The platform that used impeachment as a political tool (very bad for our nation as a whole): the platform that destroyed the economy to ‘keep us safe’ from COVID:  the platform that embraced riots as good because it was politically expedient.  The left is so desperate to get Trump out that they are willing to burn down the nation (literally and figuratively) if that is what it takes.  And leaders that are willing win at all cost are beyond dangerous.  The left has demonstrated they are prepared to shred our nation for power. 

 

This is the first election in my life that I believe we are voting for the survival of our nation.  I am voting for Trump.  I have had many people ask me how I could vote for him.  He’s evil, scary, sexist, racist, ect. 

 

Well it’s quite simple really.  First the LP put up Jo Jo who is barely a step above Gary Johnson.  Quite frankly their political candidates make me not want to be libertarian anymore.  Trump isn’t scary to me.  If you ignore his rhetoric, he’s mostly harmless.  Yes, his persona is just beyond anything I ever imagined from a President, but I don’t elect Presidents for their public image.  If public image was my measuring stick, Obama, Reagan, Bush 2, JFK and the like would be my Presidential heroes.  And they aren’t.  Trump is an irreverent ass.  He has thrown the PC book of politics out the window and brought the media and other politicians with him.  Whatever you think of his persona, his persona is not his Presidency, his policies are. 

 

In fact his actual policies (not his Twitter account) are quite conservative.  I don’t have to like him as a person to know that his polices are good for America.  From a strictly domestic policy standpoint, he has been soundly conservative.  For me that is the most shocking fact of his entire presidency. Middle class America has thrived under his policies.  Poor America has improved.  And yes, as everyone points out, wealthy America has grown as well.  I would argue that domestically he has been more conservative than any President since Reagan.  Once again, am I in the Twilight Zone?

 

And I am afraid for our nation should / when the left regains control.  Mostly because at this point, who knows what their actual policies are.  The current nominees sway like reeds in the wind.  They have no defined platform, but only lots and lots of talking points that change with the political tide.  And this is what makes them dangerous.  The political tide of 2020 has been off the charts and the political left have shifted along with them.  There are no standards they hold to except follow the tide to power.  2020 and the insanity I’ve seen are why I’m voting for Donald Trump.  The destruction of America supported by the left this year has struck a chord of fear in me regarding the future of America.  We have been shifting closer and closer to the cliff of empire collapse for decades, but this is the first time I’ve felt we have a party trying to run full speed towards it. 

 

America is an empire.  Like all empires it will eventually become fragile and crumble from within.  We may be on the edge of that collapse now or we may have miles to go, but I’m certainly not going to deliberately vote for a party that is trying to push us to the cliff of internal collapse.  Politicians that have zero principles will follow the river right off the cliff. 

 

And not that all politicians aren’t swayed by the tide of political opinion, but historically they have had certain foundational principles that they would hold to.  But today they are holding to nothing but ‘Trump bad’.  Everything else is up to change if it means they win.

 

I believe the fate of the American empire will inevitably follow the fate of all empires.  But Lord willing not in my lifetime.  You can vote against Trump because you hate his persona, but I’m voting for him because I want America to survive and prosper for my future, my children’s future and my grandchildren’s future.  And this is the first election in my lifetime that I think will actually have a significant impact on the path of America’s future.  Quite frankly, I don’t want to see the end of America in my lifetime. 

 

**Dan Carlin, whom I greatly respect as one the few honest journalist of my lifetime raised two points to consider. 

1)    He believes Trump is capable of pushing us to civil war.  That is a legitimate fear.  But in a time where Ice Cube (the original Fuck The Police gangster) is being lambasted for daring to cross the isle and try to work with the President to better black lives; a time when Democrat supreme Diane Feinstein is lambasted for daring to be civil in the Senate…  I think if we are going there, no one can stop it. 

2)    Nuclear Power ~ he has serious concerns with Trump having the nuclear football.  I don’t share that fear as I think his diatribe is the show and his policy is much more controlled and subdued. 

That being said, in light of my respect for Carlin, I have given these two points fair considerations. 

 

***I shared this with a friend.  She pointed out that from her view, between Trumps persona and Trumps policy, his persona is what stands out as paramount.  She feels it is real hostility and real danger, calculated and with nefarious objectives, not just harmless rhetoric as I have stated here.  I actually agreed with her, that based upon her understanding of Trump’s persona, to vote for him would be wrong.  If she is right than we are hosed no matter who wins.