Wayward Landlubber

There was a time within memory when you could find better angels within the two parties. We did not need to agree on policy to acknowledge that their belief was sound. We just did not wish to pass their laws for reasons we felt were sound. This is not one of those times. Our political dysphoria has gotten to the point that one side denies the existence of that dysphoria. Denies the need for scientists, denies the need for vaccines, denies respect to any learning beyond their stupid opinion. But it's worse than that. Because those lesser angels (I may be a lesser angel, but at least I'm not one of them) are only a response to what is handed down from some ersatz Mt. Olympus,  where all laws are handed down, when democracy is no longer honored. We still have a say in who goes there, so does everyone else. We have worked to achieve that. Not all of us, given recent history, have proven to be thoughtful, not all of us wish to accept that some of those thoughts are thoughtful. Until...

In the days of wooden-hulled sailboats, driven by hundreds of yards of stout canvas, there was an insult given to new crewmembers who stood in the waist of the boat and pontificated on how things could be done better, things they new little about.. They were called "waisters". It was usually accompanied with a more direct epithet, typical of the sailors direct way of speaking. Even today there is little time on a sailboat for idleness. The captain, like Ahab, is "god over all of the vessel". Philosophy students are confronted with a conundrum: if you would not let a passenger on a cruise ship, who knows little of the complex web of things an experienced seaman knows, become Captain, why would you allow people to vote for a president who doesn't know how the ship of state works? How even more stupid to allow people who don't know how government works to vote for a group who knows enough about democracy to tear it down in front of us, but not enough to preserv...

I don't  mean to be alarmist because for the first time in a long time I feel confident, this far out, that we are going to see Donald Trump and all of that wretched crowd, awfully disappointed. But what should we do if i am disappointed, if we are disapointed, and he is our next president? We do not do what they want us to do, we do not stop resisting.  I met a Jewish man many years ago that told me how he, as a young man fled Poland before the Nazi's marched in. He and his family left in different directions, so that one of them would carry on the family bloodline. He was the fortunate one. It was a long and fascinating story, but what is important is that nobody gave in to the Thousand Year Reich while under occupation, The Reich that lasted maybe a dozen years. His description of resisting occupation was to use, Small Displays of Contempt. He described how the Dutch resistance would sabotage German vehicles by such actions as putting sugar in the gas tanks or plugging thei...

   I grew up in a Protestant tradition, though not fervently pursued. So, in a time of personal crisis even a secular humorist can be tempted to seek divine comfort. It was at just such a time that I found myself in the receiving line after a Unitarian service. I am an unapologetic liberal, and have been most of my adult life. While quick to see the yawning chasm between the Jimmy Carter Christian's and the Pat Robertson Christians, I have kept both at arms length. However an existential crisis drove me to seek desperate measures.    The Unitarian Church has long been a haven for progressive thinkers. Speakers on issues such as the environment, economic diversity, or the consequences of corporate personhood could often be found renting out a Unitarian Church to deliver their speeches. I sometimes found myself in attendance. The cars in the parking lot of the Unitarian Church have bumper stickers that read: Earth love it or leave it!, or well-behaved women never make...

Many of us were mislead by the Bond films and the assorted criminal masterminds to emerge from the dark places where villains assemble to take control of the world from the "globalist hierarchy", fictional groups like SMERSH, SMEGMA,  or whatever sinister groups are out rhere. It is not hard to find a real-world corallary to Bond villainy. The problem is James Bond, 007,  was in a linear universe, where the battle was between battle MI-6 and whatever evil profiteer he, Bond, is assigned to eliminate with "extreme sanction".  Sometimes the CIA rides in the passenger seat. In the real world MI-6 must fight several villains at once and there are more than seven double O's needed. And that's only one spy agency battling the dark knights. We are not sure where the CIA fits into that picture.  Our fascination with spy fiction has been entertaining, but like all of our battles with the real villains, we are fighting their passionate quest for world domination. We h...