More Thoughts on this Crazy Election

It is difficult to know what to think about this election, the candidates, the debates or any of it. It’s all just very odd. It’s as if we have as a society fallen through the rabbit hole and we now living in a post-rabbit hole world, where nothing really makes sense.

The American Voter, Getting Ready for the Fall

There was a time in the political discourse of this county where candidates were supposed to embody something vaguely defined as “character.” Of course politicians lie and have always lied, and sex scandals have never been out of the question, but when they surfaced, the candidate in question was toast. It happened in 1987 to Gary Hart, who was accused of being a “womanizer,” and with others over the years. Even being remarried was an issue at one time, and our public officials had to uphold at least some standard.

But no more. In this election we have a candidate who completely and utterly mishandled state secrets – an offense that resulted in charges against David Petraeus – but who somehow got off scot-free. No charges, no indictment. Nothing. The other candidate is blatantly vulgar (even before the 2005 video), lies profoundly and has been married three times.

So much for character.

Regarding the policies of the candidates, we find the same rabbit-hole world. Hilary’s policies tamer than Trump’s, but on Obamacare, the economy and Syria, she tightropes between supporting Obama’s policies and being against them – or both. This is normal political triangulation (or perhaps cognitive dissonance on steroids). But her support of a no fly zone over Syria is crazy. As soon as we shoot down a Russian jet fighter, this is what we would have: World War III!  Putin is not exactly in the mood for such American shenanigans.

And some of Trump’s policies are just as nutty. One can make a case for a tighter border, but are we really going to build a 1,500 mile wall? That’s like building a wall from Upstate, New York, (where I live) to Florida. I don’t think so. And yet it is floated as a possibility and makes as much sense as a no-fly zone in Syria.

What can we say? Some say Rome fell because of degeneracy, and I wonder if we are witnessing this here. A democracy is only as good as the integrity and uprightness of its citizens. Old Ben Franklin said, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” True. If the people are “virtuous,” the candidates will at least try to exhibit that; if not, you end up with Hillary and Trump.

I will say it again: May God help us!

Just Checking In

I’ve been slack and remiss at blogging. Great ideas come to me, and some of them actually find their way to paper; once there, of course I have to edit them to death, thus attaining the standard that I always aspire to, and it all takes time – something I don’t always have. So I’ll just check in now with a few tidbits from my always busy life:

The Kitten. What can we say? She is an absolute terror. She harasses the older cat, Melcore, endlessly; will jump on Melcore’s back, play with his tail and even bit him in the arse as he walks across the kitchen floor. I’m surprised he hasn’t killed her, though he will hiss at her sometimes. When she’s not torturing him, she’s torturing us. All feet shall be played with and attacked and the more they jump, the funner it is! I tell my kids this joke: what’s the difference between having kids and a cat? When the cat is bad, you can just put it out, but you can’t do that with kids. So out goes the cats, but in the kids stay.

The little terror resting up for her next onslaught….

My fatigue. It’s generally better, and that makes life 100 percent easier. It’s very difficult to live life with no energy.  Possible but no fun. It bit me yesterday but I’m better today. That’s good: there’s enough to do around here, that’s for sure!

Water. We have no water. Well, that’s an exaggeration. We do have water: a bit of it, sometimes. As long as no one washes their clothes, takes a shower, flushes the toilet or draws tea water for the electric tea kettle, we have water. Do more than a few loads of laundry – no water. Teenagers take showers like we live in a rain forest – no water. Too many flushes – no water. The water slows to a trickle in the evening, as it did in other droughts, but this drought is different, and much worse. Wake up in the morning, and there is a trickle; be washing dishes mid-day, and suddenly a trickle, and at evening-time: a trickle. A trickle leads to: off goes the water pump again at the breaker in the basement, since we don’t want burn out the jet pump in our well. Two hours later we are desperate – someone has pooped!  On the pump goes and we have water right up until we don’t. Perform steps again. Repeat until bedtime.

Elections (US). I read a guys blog who is usually right on but unfortunately not so optimistic about this countries trajectory into the future. He writes about this strange thing called the 2016 election here and ends his blog thusly:

In history, elites commonly fail spectacularly. Ask yourself: how could these two ancient institutions, the Democratic and Republican parties, cough up such human hairballs? And having done so, do they deserve to continue to exist? And if they go up in a vapor, along with the public’s incomes and savings, what happens next?

Enter the generals.

To end on a happier note, the world may be about to end, kittens can attack us unmercifully, our health may suck at times and who really needs all that water anyway, but if we’ve given up everything and have become a disciple of Jesus, everything will work out well for us – and very well – in the end!