1 Boring Old Man

In European History, the decline of the Roman Empire lead to the Dark Ages, a period of stagnation and chaos. In the Renaissance that followed, modern history began with the return to the lost past – or so the historians tell us in their shorthand way of condensing the generations that came before us. We have an analogous story of collapse in our own timeline – the Depression Era of the 1930’s. I suppose there’s something of an analogy – greed and power run amok followed by a fall. Was the recovery in Europe [The Renaissance] really picking up where they’d left off? Hardly. They "cherry-picked" the ancient wisdom along with making some of the same mistakes – proving the adage "history repeats itself." Did F.D.R. get us back to basics to end the Depression? Maybe just a bit, but there was a heavy dose of Socialism and uniting around a War in the mix.

Without really thinking about it, I expect most of us use what we know of history to try to guess about where the Present is headed. I, for example, see this period as "the Dark Ages" or as "the Depression" – a time when our system has collapsed. I expect there are people who see it as a "Golden Age" similar to those "Reagan Years" that are so venerated by the Republican Pundits. I’m also aware that I see Nixon to Reagan to Bush II as some kind of linked progression – like the Rise of Fascism in America, a "gathering storm." On the edge of my mind, I’m kind of paranoid about these people, particularly their dark characters [Richard Perle, Michael Ledeen, Laurie Mylroie, Douglas Feith, John Bolton, Bill Kristol, etc.], or when I read people like Sibel Edmonds. But my point isn’t really about the biases and prejudices that wander through my own mind. My point is about the difficulty of knowing the direction of history during it.

I tend to see the current mess as an artifact of this unholy Administration [Bush the Empty and Cheney the Paranoid]. But it’s also possible that much of what I see as caused by them was in the cards anyway. I tend to see the rise of bigotry and the halting of social progress as a reactionary trend inserted by the Republican businessmen and the Religious Right. But I suppose that this pendulum swing could be a reaction to too much change, too quickly. It’s all so confusing when one steps out of one’s comfort zone and tries to see things another way. I expect that’s why we do it so rarely.

• a firm committment to restore the American system of government – especially Separation of Powers, the Independent DOJ, Protecting the Vote, Freedom of Information, and Congressional Oversight.
• a committment to reversing the National Debt [and perhaps legislation to block future tax cuts if the debt is rising].
• a return to the Geneva Conventions with a premium on simple human decency.
• and let’s do something about the environment [a planet to live on is a prerequisite to a future].
• the capacity to "roll with the punches" as we move through this period in our history.