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November 04, 2016

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Interesting post.
I read it completely at least 3 times.
My response, over and over:
"That's not realistic."
"That's not realistic."
"That"s not realistic."

Get real!

Thanks (for nothing), Harry. You and my wife have a career ahead as human bookcase speakers who broadcast the same message to me in irritating stereophonic sound. For an explanation of this semi-cryptic message, see this post on my other blog:

http://hinessight.blogs.com/hinessight/2016/10/why-my-wifes-thats-not-realistic-drives-movie-watching-me-crazy.html

Does Pollyanna have a dark side?

I try to embrace evidence, from which I seek facts, and ultimately, truth. In cognition there is the great seducer that seeks to drive you down a path to unwarranted optimism or pessimism. Keeping the great seducer at bay is the greatest challenge there is to clear thinking.

I credit myself with a basic understanding of government and what philosophers and politicians have said and thought about the nature of government. I have no reason to question the judgment of a Plato, Socrates, Machiavelli, or the authors of The Federalist Papers about the nature and purpose of government. I also credit myself with a basic understanding of history.

I know that tyranny lurks within the best motives. The 14th of July, 1789 stands as a date in French history when the people rose above the monarchy. The republican dreams set out the The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen) turned into the The Committee of Public Safety (Comité de salut public) after which tyranny stalked the land. I know that the alienation of Germans produced Hitler, and from him the Holocaust.

These are the ingredients or filters through which I understand what is at play. I sufficiently understand how fragile is the structure of a republic to fear that how people will vote could well make manifest the spectre of tyranny.

I swing between doubt and hope and I have no idea how I will cope if the doubt I have triumphs Tuesday.

The strength of the republic is in the ability of those with the franchise to exercise that franchise with the wisdom the Founders intended. The great misfortune of this election and its debilitating effect on the future is that we are motivated by the demons of distrust, disliking one candidate so much we have lost the ability to see the corrosive flaws in the other. Our hatred of one candidate causes us to attribute sainthood to the other.

We live in a Twitter world. We live in the twilight of the world of which the Founders dreamt. We live in a world of 240 characters, no longer having the cognitive capacity to absorb the 3,035 words of even one of the Federalist papers.

If you have any of that cognitive capacity remaining, I suggest you read but one of those critical Papers, Federalist 10.

http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa10.htm

OH that's rich a Baby Boomer calling the next generation self-centered. Guess what Brian, your parents said the same thing about you, and their parents said the same thing about them, etc. Baby Boomers were not some mold breaking pillars of virtue and sacrifice that endured and selflessly achieved what other generations never did or could. Get over yourself.

Oh boo hoo you had a war, well millennials did too (that Hillary voted for) not to mention a little thing called 9/11 and radical islam's war on the west. And YOUR parents had World War 2 and achieved the civil rights act. Their parents had World War 1 and achieved women's suffrage. There is no inherent superiority or inferiority between generations, people are people are people. The only truth i see is that old people will always grumble "The kids these days..." just like their parents did.

Your generation was the one that voted George W Bush into office. Twice. I think the kids can take it from here...

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