Stunned By #WalkAway Campaign

A few days ago my sister suggested I look into a new Facebook group.

And me being me, that's exactly what I did.

HOLY BUCKETS!

At that time there were about 58,000 members of that group.

Now there are well over 112,000 with that number climbing rapidly.

So.

What's the big deal about this group? What's it all about?

A guy called Brandon Straka started the whole thing a while back. He walked away from an ideology that has become NOT what it maybe once was.

The group is a place where people can tell their own 'walk-away' stories. It's a place where people can offer their support to those who are walking away, and tell their own stories.

And BOY are people doing just that!!

Here's the link:

#WalkAway Campaign

What are people walking away from, and why?

Partly it's about those who are walking away from the democrat political party - each Story is different but there's a common thread: decent people are sick and tired of being treated indecently. Partly it's about that same theme carried over into whatever arena a person finds applicable to their life. Politics is a key focus of course, but the theme of just plain being decent to one another, showing kindness and even just common courtesy is such an inherent part of the whole that a visit to the group feels very much like walking into a group hug.

I can't explain it adequately and recommend that you go spend some time there yourself.

If you want to join the group, please be aware that they screen everyone first so it might take a while depending on how many folks are 'in line' ahead of you. But you can certainly go visit!

Because of the rapidity with which this is growing, it's gotten some attention. The purpose of the group might also have something to do with that. This is a mid-term election year and the 2018 results matter to a lot of people who might not really want word to spread like wildfire that people are walking away from the democratic party by the thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands.

So.

We've been labeled Russian Bots.

Talk about de-humanizing a large group of individuals!

You would not believe the diversity to be found in that group. Everyone is there, believe me! But, other than being a part of their introduction stories, none of that matters. The thing that seems to matter most to Everyone in that group is that we all love the United States of America and want to be able to say so, openly and proudly. With dignity and respect.

The stories and responses might shock you. They might make you weep. They will most assuredly make your day better, your heart lighter, and your Hope for the Future stronger.

This is one powerful group, I'll tell you that right up front.

It isn't just the 'traditional' Silent Majority finding its Voice but many and many members have been a less traditional Silenced Minority.

The effect the individual stories have on a person is ... high impact might be the term I'm looking for.

The effect of the whole, that's what is going to stun you.

Go.

Read.

Watch.

Remember not so long ago I was talking about that 'thing' that showed up during the 2017 natural disasters hitting us again and again and again with no end in sight?

Yeah.

That.

People stepping up and helping people and nobody checking which hyphen went with who.

That was the real AMERICA showing up full force in a time of need.

Guess what.

You can meet that AMERICA up close and personal.

Go.

Read.

Watch.

 #WalkAway Campaign

Those Deplorable Barbarians, I Tell Ya ...

This is not specifically about the books of SONG - except that it really is ... because all of the generations, all of the centuries, all of the battles represented in the series They Are My Song are leading in the same direction: TODAY. And TOMORROW. So today's events really do have a heck of a lot to do with SONG after all I reckon.

I’m still seeing references to ‘why people voted for Trump’ couched in terms of the increasingly evident botches of the other side.

You know what?

None of that stuff really had all that much to do with my vote, although it’s nice to see it all finally coming into the light.

But no.

I would bet money if I had any that I’m not the only American who actually voted FOR somebody.

I said at the time and I’ll say it again now: I waited, and Waited, and WAITED for the democrats to come up with something, ANYTHING, that focused on issues that were important to me, on some kind of plan to address and alter the direction their political party had been taking our nation toward. It never happened. I’m still waiting.

In the meantime, hope from that front gone, this Independent Voter had also been paying attention to what was coming out of the republican front. And it made sense to me. The message Donald Trump was presenting made sense, especially as it was filling the vacuum the democrats were creating by not having ANY message. “It’s my turn” is not a message. “The other guy is a jerk” is not a message. “This is YOUR nation; it belongs to You, to We the People” is a message. Hearing ‘us’ and ‘we’ and ‘our’ and ‘choice’ and ‘security’ and ‘God Bless America’ and ‘Constitution’ and ‘Proud to be an American’ and ‘a return to Rule of Law’ and ‘YOU matter’ … all messages. Proven financial capability, also a message. The presentation of concrete, viable plans of action – a message. Lots and lots of messages, and they make sense.

So please don’t try to tell me or any of us that we voted ‘against’ Hillary.

Hillary who?

I voted FOR Donald Trump. Me, an Independent who hasn’t seen a presidential candidate I actually wanted to vote into office in decades.

By all means, continue to expose and prosecute what has needed to be exposed and prosecuted for a long time. Maybe it will make those folk think twice before they try it again.

But please note that those are not the things that are making me smile and wanting to say “I told you so”. Frankly, it was pretty much a given, as soon as the guy who believes in Rule of Law got into office, that those things were going to be tended to.

No, it’s not those things that either swayed my vote or now make me smile.

It was the promise of hope borne in the message; and it is the promise, the message, the hope fulfilled – the word given and kept.

Against all the odds, fighting an uphill battle, swimming against the current … all of those clichés and a bunch more all fit. Even so, what mattered last year at this time and what matters now is that feeling of Hope, coming on ever stronger. Through the stench of the swamp-draining that’s going on, Hope rises like a breath of fresh air.

…

Me being me, and about half of my life spent researching and writing about times much more ancient than these, yes I’m going to draw a bit of a comparison here. The situation kind of reminds me of when the legions of Rome finally gave up on ever conquering Scotland. It was supposed to have been a rout, right? Just go into that little country, take it, and be done with it. The odds were all in favor of Rome. All they had to do was just do it. But the Scots weren’t having it. And … guess what.

When it comes to that, another example of Rome underestimating what they were up against comes when the (allegedly impossible and therefore never really happened) Barbarian Conspiracy succeeded in taking down the Western Empire. Those Barbarians, in current terms, might be referred to as Deplorables. 

Just sayin’ … if the comparison fits, use it.

Interested Independent Watches, Listens, Waits For Democrats

If the democrats had even half an ounce of common sense they would sit down and shut up and mind their own business for eight years while the republicans mind their own business, which is tending to healing the wounds of the United States of America.

Once we have regained a healthy nation we will be in a much better position to be generous to others. All we can do is the best we can do with what we have to work with at any given time. If we can’t afford to be generous, we can’t afford it. At least let us get back onto our feet before you pull the rug out from under us again, for pete’s sake.

I know that sounds kind of harsh.

Standing in the middle can be entertaining at times. It can also cause a Quaker to cuss. 

Out loud.

I swear.

Sometimes.

Out loud and everything.

That’s the literal interpretation of ‘I swear’.

Actually, it’s a figure of speech that’s an expression of frustration and disgust.

On the entertaining side of things, I’ve been watching and waiting to see what the democrats are going to come up with for a platform. As a middle-stander, I generally have to choose between left and right so it behooves me to keep an eye and an ear on both. A couple of weeks ago I caught a bit of a glimmer but thought to myself, ‘Self, this has got to be a joke. Everything that guy just spouted comes straight from the Trump administration.’ 

And so I waited and watched some more. Jobs, they’re saying. We’ve got a million more jobs now than we did six months ago, and it’s not the democrats who are doing that. Money, they’re saying. The stock market is going strong and steady, on the rise in the past months and it’s not the democrats who are doing that. Justice for all, they’re saying. The hammer of Justice is about to fall hard on some who apparently thought they were exempt and it’s not the democrats who are making that happen.

Yada yada.

So you tell me: if you were in my shoes, standing in the middle, watching and listening, what would you think about what you’re seeing and hearing?

On the one side there are people actively doing stuff every which way from Tuesday while people on the other side deride them for what they’re doing. Then the other side’s folks start yapping about how they’re gonna do this that and the other thing – and it’s all the same stuff the first side’s people are already in the middle of doing (you know, the ones that are being derided).

Me, I’m going, ‘Well if you were going to do all that stuff, how come you didn’t when you had the chance? You really think I’m going to fall for a line of baloney like that? Come up with something of your own for crying’ out loud. All you’re spouting, that I’ve heard so far, is pretty much plagiarism. You think just because it’s working for the republicans you can just take what they’re doing, claim it, and people are going to believe it was all your brilliant idea? Gedouddaheah.’

I’m still waiting, watching and listening.

IF the democrats can come up with a ‘uniquely their own’ viable party platform, that would be a good thing. I think the problem for them might be proving their case, but I look forward to finding out what’s on their agenda in a real sense as opposed to the rhetorical sense.

Getting a bit fed up with rhetoric, to be honest. A little less talk and a lot more action would be nice, and I’m not talking about action in terms of demonstrations, protests, and riots. There are democratic ‘strongholds’ in the United States. When those places, without the intervention of republicans and/or their resources, prove themselves to be ‘better’ in terms of fiscal responsibility, personal safety, environmental concerns, international security, employment opportunities, educational excellence, family and community involvement, etc. I might take a closer look at whatever platform has produced all of the above. At the moment, I’m not seeing anything of the sort, so there’s the challenge – to take what is and turn it into what the democrats say they’re going to create.

They can turn their minds to that while they’re sitting down and shutting up about what the republicans are doing.

And yes, I’m serious.

I would dearly love to have California and Illinois, for example, get what they want – which seems to be having the republicans bow out of their lives – and watch while they, without ‘outside interference’, do what they say they can do. It hasn’t gone too well for them just lately, but that’s doubtless the fault of the republicans. So … I say let them have at it. They’ve got almost eight years; that ought to be plenty of time to get their agenda implemented.

Oh yeah.

Well, as soon as they can come up with a party platform of their own, they can get started. I’m thinking they’d best hurry up on that.

Because in the next eight years the USA is going to find her footing again. As her strength returns her ability to be generous will return too, and it will be the republicans who do that. Because there is apparently NO support from democrats, it’s going to be almighty clear who’s doing what and who isn’t.

Just sayin’.

If the democrats want to be viewed as credible in any way, any way at all, they’d best get off their howling hinders and figure out how to prove themselves in an observable, quantifiable fashion. Rhetoric isn’t going to cut it any more. They have to actually do something positive and constructive, and it had better be outstanding because the republicans are setting that bar pretty darned high.

Watching, listening, and waiting for the next almost eight years ought to be an enlightening experience. 

Thoughts on Repeal/Replace

Below is a post I wrote just the other day, only to find that the next step seems to be a side-step. I wonder how many people are more than halfway wishing they could recall their Representatives and (especially) Senators right about now? Unfortunately, that's not an option.

XXX

Apparently the Republican Senators have (finally) managed to agree on something when it comes to the ACA.

That's a step in the right direction.

From what I read and hear, division continues regarding how to proceed from here, and that's to be expected. Different populations in different States have different ideas about what they want from a health care system; their Senators are duty-bound to represent those different ideas.

And me, to whom it doesn't personally matter one way or another, I'm sitting here thinking about it because what DOES matter to me is everyone else in my nation.

Some want this; some want that; some flat refuse to even consider alternatives ... but alternatives it's going to have to be I think.

Last week I think it was, I heard an echo of what has been in mine own head for a while now.

How about a compromise?

Before you start in on the concept as either selling out or being pig-headed, remember the vast variety of opinions that are represented in our Senate. Each and all of them are just as important as every one of the others, all have equal status. It might not seem that way, and no doubt plenty of folk don't really believe it is that way, or should be that way. BUT it IS that way.

Back to the thought of compromise.

For the folks who insist that a 'single payer' plan is the only thing they'll even consider, why can't we give them that, within reason?

For the folks who insist that they want to be able to choose their own plans and have no interest whatsoever in any kind of government interference in their health care (or their lives at all for that matter), why can't we give them that too, within reason?

The thought is to provide the best of both to everyone.

People get (or not) whatever insurance they choose for themselves to cover most things; that's a bow to those who refuse to 'not get to choose'.

But set a limit on what those policies have to cover (and what the premiums can be) with a 'safety net' single payer (government) coverage for catastrophic types of things; an equal bow to the other end of the spectrum..

The reasoning is that there are plenty of objections to an overall plan where the healthy don't get to choose whether or not they're going to foot the bill for folks who, for example, take their child in for every runny nose.

There are also justifiable objections to outrageous premiums for those whose very lives are dependent on what have become extremely expensive medications, and/or those whose lives are abruptly interrupted by an accident with the accompanying out of pocket expenses that can and do break them financially.

So why can there not be something that considers both sides of the whole thing?

You get your own insurance to cover your child's runny noses; the 'safety net' is in place if one of those runny noses turns out to be a life-threatening situation that's not covered by your insurance policy.

People who might object to paying for you to take your kid to the doctor for every last little sniffle are probably the first ones to organize a local fundraiser for someone who has been in an accident. While they might not see the logic behind covering somebody else's (preventable) sinus infections, they are likely absolutely willing to kick into the kitty in cases of emergency.

Insurance companies might appreciate having regular customers (who, having to pay for their own basic health care might actually start taking an interest in preventive measures and not use their insurance quite as much) without having to try to cope with huge claims (because that's where the 'safety net' comes in) and make their basic premiums reasonable, maybe on a sliding scale that takes into consideration individual income and health history.

Health care providers might feel the same way and make their basic care costs reasonable.

I'm not too sure about pharmaceutical companies making their products reasonably affordable but have a feeling that any who DO would find themselves with a lot more customers.

Medicaid and Medicare are in place, and will remain in place, for the vulnerable among us. That's not the issue here as I see it. We all kick into the kitty for that and the individual States choose for themselves what they're going to do with the funds we provide them with for the care of our vulnerable.

Balancing personal responsibility with societal responsibility seems to me common sense.

Those who are so attached to the ACA that they cannot let go of it will retain the societal responsibility associated with it via that 'safety net'; those who are of the opinion that people need to start contributing to their own health and well-being will be vindicated as personal responsibility becomes expected.

It's a win-win in my opinion, but what do I know?

I'm more an advocate for personal responsibility when it comes to health care issues, but I am not the only person in the whole wide world and I full well know it.

There's no reason in said whole wide world that a reasonable compromise cannot be reached that will meet the needs/demands of everyone involved. I'm not talking about 'replacing' the ACA but repealing it in toto and developing an entirely different plan of action on behalf of all of us - a reasonable compromise among reasonable people who actually care enough about one another to respect each other's needs and are willing to meet halfway.

Integration vs Segregation: Role Reversal In Progress?

Something has been nagging at the back of my mind for a while now, presenting me with a sense of unease because I couldn't quite identify what exactly was bothering me, couldn't get a handle on it enough to figure out what was behind it.

My mind kept going back to a time in my life when I was in college (for the third or fourth time as Life kept interfering with my education). One of my jobs was Recording Secretary for the Standing Committees of Student Government, the allocating committees that were assigned budgets and had to dispense funds to cover the different needs of our university population.

When a brand new committee was formed in the second half of the eighties, I kept records of its meetings. At the time it was called the MAC - Multicultural Awareness Committee - soon changed to Multicultural Activities Committee. I was asked, and accepted, a dual role: Recording Secretary and full member.

The population of our university wasn't huge at the time, maybe ten thousand, but the variety of folks was more than you might expect in an upper mid-western environment. The groups who organized themselves into Student Organizations came to the MAC for help in funding their activities and events. The principle goals of the Student Organizations were two-fold: first to offer support and friendship to their memberships; second to reach out to the larger university community to share the unique cultures of the different organizations. Some groups were large; others not so much. Even so, each and all shared those common goals.

The thing that sticks in my mind about those days is that the different organizations seemed to be simply wanting to share what made them unique, to present to the community of which they were a part information about the wider-than-expected diversity encapsulated within the sphere of our university environment.

I thought then and believe still that each and all of us have an inherent need to be understood and to be accepted as an integral part of a greater whole. I thought then and believe still that this nation, the United States of America, epitomizes that concept. We were doing our best in our own small way to exemplify that.

Quietly and generally without a whole lot of fanfare, we celebrated the inclusion of those of us who were maybe in some ways a mite different from the majority of the community we shared. It was informational, and fun, and I think it helped all of to grow as we learned from each other.

A couple of decades before my (too brief) time on the MAC, things had been different. We had among us those who remembered those times all too well. They remembered segregation, had battled with all that they had in them to bring it to an end.

I think that what has made the United States strong enough to have survived has been un underlying powerful belief that the forging of the strength of this nation lies not in her diversity per se but in the one-ness that makes the sum of the whole much greater than the parts.

There are any number of instructional articles and videos about the making of steel. There are any number of uses said steel can be put to.

That's sort of how I view our nation. We are forging something that will stand the test of time here.

To do it requires many different components put to many uses in many ways. It requires the integration of the many into the whole. Each standing apart cannot become what is needed. By the same token, the whole will not be indeed what it needs to be if any of the components are left out.

And so ... for a time the vision was to forge a new way, incorporating all of the parts necessary to make the whole as strong as it needs to be.

Have we lost that vision?

Because just lately it's come to me what has been nagging at me for so long.

I see and hear an entirely different version of our vision, and yes it bothers me.

Are the various parts now struggling to return to segregation, leaving the strength of an integrated whole? Do any of you recall the old catch-phrase 'separate but equal'? Seems to me that didn't work out all that well. Separation is not exactly much of a sign of equality, if you ask me. Yet it seems factions are developing that desire separation, and equality is left in the dust ... or the ashes ... take your pick.

You know, just because one group is smaller in size doesn't make it less vital to the forging of the whole. If you took it out of the mix, the result would be different all right - probably not nearly as strong. Try leaving one 'minor' ingredient out of a recipe once. It might still be okay but it surely won't be what it was supposed to be. The same goes for forging steel and just about everything else - including nations.

So really. Those who seem to be trying to 'set themselves apart' ... stop it. Just stop it. We are all just as important as each other, no more and no less. We will not become less than we are as a nation, and this re-segregation is not going to work.

In closing (I heard that sigh of relief) I refer you to the stars that grace the Flag of the United States of America. Yes I know they represent each and all of the States of our Nation. They can also represent the forging of this Nation, one made up of many. You notice that each of those stars is the same size; each is equal to all of the others. The fact that Texas and Alaska are far bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware is entirely moot. They share equal status, and our Flag needs ALL of her stars to be complete. Not a single one of those stars carries a label but together they, and the stripes of red and white that flank them, represent one nation. One. Recognizing and respecting individuality in NO way diminishes what that means but enhances it.

God Bless America

Indivisible

QUIT WITH THE TANTRUMS AND THE TAUNTS

Honestly, enough is enough.

Because I’m neither democrat nor republican, I might be justified in feeling a bit of an outsider in mine own nation.

Watching the two political parties has gotten beyond entertaining, believe you me.

The democrats are behaving like spoiled brats who have been denied what they want but think pitching fits every which way from Tuesday might get them their way.

It won’t.

The republicans are taunting and gloating, which is reprehensible and serves no good purpose but to retaliate against people who are already down for the count. Since when is it okay to kick someone when they’re down?

Stop it.

Just stop it.

There is no reason in God’s green world that all this stuff has to be happening.

More than half of us were labeled ‘deplorable’ last year. We didn’t appreciate that, not the republicans nor we independents. Do we want to taunt? Of course we do. That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Justice has already been served up in generous portions to the one who spat in our faces. We can smirk and snicker all we want, but we don’t have to do it publicly.

So stop.

The vindication has been, is, and will be self-evident. It doesn’t need to be rubbed in.

No, it’s not to be expected that the tantrums will stop any time soon, but we don’t have to react to them as though they’re even worth our notice.

There are, you know, many valuable issues that do deserve attention.

That’s what we want to see more of.

We want updates on the progress that’s being made in the background while the tots are trying to keep themselves center stage with one dramatic fit after another after another.

Parents: when your toddler is pitching a fit, the last thing in this whole wide world you want to do is pay attention to it, other than to make sure it’s not doing actual harm to said toddler or anyone else.

The democrat party can cry if it wants to cry if it wants to cry if it wants to; you might cry too if it happened to you. Which it hasn’t but it’s not going to help anything to keep giving in to their craving for attention. It’s flat not worth it when our energy could and should be spent on better things.

Like what?

Pick a spot, any spot, and start there.

We’ve got a war on, in case nobody’s noticed lately.

We’ve got jobs growing and being filled.

We’ve got violently-disposed individuals about to be checkmated.

We’ve got technology ramping up to take on the renewables and get them into play – putting to use our non-renewable resources to get that job done. In case you weren’t aware of that.

We’ve got new options coming at us on the education front, as the current system has dramatically failed.

We’ve got agricultural choices to make.

We’ve got financial decisions to tackle.

We’ve got independent, individual, freedoms to define and to defend. Yours stop BEFORE your fist hits my nose; mine stop BEFORE I hit you back.

You know, stuff like that.

The times we live in are some of the most exciting in the lifetime of Earth.

Why in the name of anything you might hold dear would we choose to focus on drivel when the universe is unfolding before us and we could be celebrating all of the above and a whole lot more?

Balance will be restored and yes we do need to do our part to help that happen. Tantrums and taunts don’t help.

Change the focus.

If the media doesn’t, change your own focus and forget about watching or listening to the tantrums and the taunts. Look around yourself and see what you can see. If you’re going to go on line, check to see what’s going on in some of those marvelous and changing areas. If you’re interested in one or more of them, for goodness sake educate yourself.

The tantrums aren’t worth our attention. Neither are the taunts.

We get to live in a time that’s truly worth paying attention to, so start paying attention to things that are worth it.

She Gave Us A Visual Of What's Been Going On

A gal, thinking to be funny, presented us with a visual image of what's been going on in the American political arena.

Even those who agree with her, maybe them especially, don't think it's funny.

The rest of us recognize it for what it is.

Maybe some of those others also recognize it for what it is.

Maybe that's why they don't like it either.

Perhaps they don't like seeing themselves in that particular mirror.

Well, that mirror was produced right down there in that big deep hole they've been digging for themselves for the past year or more. Nobody's seeing themselves in it except for them.

Picking fights at rallies, rioting, trashing sites of marches and protests (some to the point of ecological harm to areas they claimed to be protecting), discriminating against those who disagree with them, mocking and disparaging people whose views differ, offering support to ones who have harmed and are harming our nation and our people, an absence of support for the ones trying to protect our nation and ourselves (even them) ... the list goes on of what that one image represents.

It's all been going on for quite a while now and the rest of us have not been blind to it.

Neither have we been impressed by it.

If some of the ones seeing themselves reflected in that mirror are recognizing themselves for what they have become, they're maybe getting a glimmer of what everyone else has been seeing in them for all this time.

It's not funny.

It is, however, effective.

The image that's been projected by so many for so long is no different from the one they're recoiling from now. It's the face they've been showing to us as Americans and to the world at large. If they don't like it, perhaps it's time for them to do some soul-searching - because the face they present is but a mirror of what's inside of them.

That's not funny, either.

It's a reflection of certain individuals; it does not reflect America.

We Aren't Following This Man

If you know me well, and only a very few do, you know about my tears. The ones I’m talking about are the ones that come when something touches me, moves me. It may be with a whispering feather touch of sentiment or it may be with the power of a storm at sea; these tears are not mine own tears.

Call me weird; after a lifetime I’m used to that.

These words are for you.

We have watched something unfold in the past year or so that this morning has brought the tears.

And so these words are for you.

Together we have seen with our own eyes, felt with our own hearts, and responded with our own spirits, the maturing of a man.

First we stared in disbelief.

Then we smiled.

Then we listened a little.

Then we shook our collective head, as though to clear it.

Then we listened again, and we watched, you and I, while this man stumbled and caught his balance again and again, children in a schoolyard watching a classmate trying something for the first time, at first curious but gradually coming to want to see him succeed.

His struggles have been our own struggles, yours and mine. The obstacles have been our own. His tenacity has been ours, too.

What we have seen, you and I, is that stumbling growing into a stride that we respect. What we have heard is the Voice of a man growing into a Leader. What we have felt is the change in our own selves as we’ve watched and heard the change in him.

By the very act of expending the energy it takes to watch, to listen, we ourselves have contributed to the growth of not just this man but of our own selves and our nation. We are creating a path for him, and for ourselves, as we go along.

So these words are for you.

Something inside of us is responding to what we ourselves have wrought. We don’t have to trust this man, although we can. Why? Because it’s really us finally beginning to trust our own selves, our own guts, and to know … know … not just wonder, not just hope … know … that we together, you and I, are the ones setting the path here, hitting our stride.

And this man knows it too. When words like ‘we’ and ‘us’ and ‘our’ start popping up every which way from Tuesday, the children in the schoolyard and that struggling classmate are no longer children.

You know, there’s this thing about words. It’s not so much what you say but how you say it. What in the mouth of one person is nothing but rhetoric becomes something altogether different when it comes from someone else. Hollow takes on substance. Why? It’s because we know the difference between rhetoric and real. We feel it.

These words are for us. 

We aren’t following this man. 

We’re right beside him, where we belong.

The Thing About Ducks ...

found this pretty duck via a google search

There are lots and lots of different kinds of ducks, right? Look it up - there are well over a hundred different duck species.

And they're all ducks. There are a lot of some of them; not so many of others; but they're most assuredly all ducks.

When I have time I'll post photos of some of them, which will be a pleasure because they're so varied but all beautiful.

Me being me, I can't help noticing that North America has many, if not most, of those different ducks represented.

Because you know me, you know I'm  not just talking about ducks here.

A great organization called Ducks Unlimited has been working for a long time to protect and preserve habitat for all those ducks. 

The ducks need a safe place to live, to raise their young, and/or as stop-overs for when they're migrating to/from their nesting sites. That's what Ducks Unlimited is all about.

No I'm not a member of Ducks Unlimited (yet). For the moment that isn't the issue. Neither are the ducks themselves right at this particular time. They're important in and of themselves, of course, don't get me wrong here. 

But right now they're going to be representing something besides themselves. They're going to represent us - kind of.

Now, the ducks really do need basically the same things we do: safety, food, homes in which to live their lives. Ducks Unlimited works pretty darned hard to make sure they've got what they need, those ducks - ALL of those ducks, mind you, not just the mallards (for example). 

So, while for our purposes the ducks are going to represent us, Ducks Unlimited is going to represent our government, doing what it's supposed to do to protect and preserve us and what we need.

And that's just about where the 'representing' thing stops. Our ducks are NOT US. They have wings, for one thing. Neither is Ducks Unlimited our government. They do what they're supposed to be doing, what the whole organization was designed to do, giving it their best shot, for one thing.

Regarding Hillary's Hilarious Plan

No it's not FUNNY funny, not really ... except it is.

Apparently we have Mrs. Clinton to thank for this bit of Hilarity, a brief moment of respite from too much trauma and drama. Her plan ... revealed by a video ... what the heck ... I hope this Halloween to see every duck costume flying off the shelves ... :) ... just for the fun of it.

Is The Divided States of America In Our Future?

Some Democrats I know have been thinking over the option of seceding, which would essentially turn the USA into two distinct and independent countries – the Democracy of America, and the Constitutional Republic of America. 

What would something like that actually look like?

Here’s one visual we can use. It represents the upper houses of each state as of 2015. Nebraska is different because it has a non-partisan unicameral legislature. Using this visual makes sense because the folks of the states elect these people from among themselves, reflecting the definitive choices of each area.

Red would become the Constitutional Republic of America, blue the Democracy of America.

Democratic leaders are already referring to the USA as a democracy (it dawns on me that they might choke on the word ‘Constitutional’, let alone ‘Republic’) so why not just let ‘em have it?

 Nebraska stands alone, or chooses when the time comes.

The Democracy of America would include:

1) Oregon

2) California

3) Hawaii

4) Minnesota

5) Iowa

6) Illinois

7) Vermont

8) Massachusetts

9) Rhode Island

10) Connecticut

11) New Jersey

12) Delaware

13) Maryland

14) *Washington DC*

The Constitutional Republic of America would include:

1) Alaska

2) Washington state

3) Idaho

4) Utah

5) Nevada

6) Arizona

7) Montana

8) Wyoming

9) Colorado

10) New Mexico

11) North Dakota

12) South Dakota

13) Kansas

14) Oklahoma

15) Texas

16) Missouri

17) Arkansas

18) Louisiana

19) Wisconsin

20) Michigan

21) Indiana

22) Ohio

23) Kentucky

24) Tennessee

25) Mississippi

26) Alabama

27) Georgia

28) Maine

29) New York

30) New Hampshire

31) Pennsylvania

32) West Virginia

33) North Carolina

34) South Carolina

35) Florida

36) Virginia

Wrap your head around the concept and consider the ramifications. Look at the above map again. Divisiveness to the point of no possible reconciliation might be right around the corner. Democrats might want to (really) think this through. 

Can We Please Focus Our Attention On Specifics?

The United States of America will soon be electing a new President.

I would really like to hear from supporters of each candidate specifically what issues they find most important at this time in history and what their preferred candidate has done, is doing, will do about those issues. 

Without anyone making a single remark ... at all ... of any kind ... about the opposing side. 

The Authority of the United States of America is WHAT?!?

Me, I think we as a nation have been trying to look through the wrong end of the telescope. 

IMO we ought to ditch that telescope and go with a microscope, start focusing on what we can reach. 

The way things are right now is bass-ackward from the way our nation is designed to be run. No wonder it's not working the way it's supposed to.

Yeah that's kind of a pretty design, but it is NOT the way things are supposed to go.

Me, I cannot believe I'm sitting here on a 'day off' trying to think of how to explain something to people whose educations OUGHT to have drilled this stuff into them years ago. That's a part of the bass-ackwardness I'm NOT going to get into today, not if I can help it.

Mmph.

What I'm hearing from our young folk is that the rich guys have all the good stuff, the government is in cahoots with them, and we poor folk are stuck doing all the work and paying all the bills, with no end in sight. They're torn between getting mad about it and giving up.

Little do they know the whole situation is absolutely nothing new. The whole concept they're experiencing is exactly why there is a United States of America.

So what does it have to do with telescopes and microscopes?

This:

When you look through a telescope from the wrong end, what you wanted to see closer gets further away instead.

The more we of the general population try to get a handle on what's going on nationally or globally, the further away it all seems to get. Even if we were looking through the right end of that telescope, we wouldn't be able to see the whole of the 'big picture'. We're only going to get more frustrated and upset at what we do see. It ain't all that pretty out there these days, folks.

So ditch the bloody telescope for a while. All it does is make us mad and convince us that yeah our government and our world are seriously out of balance. Trying to use it is just going to make us dizzy. Washington and Wall Street are too far away from the reality of our lives for us to fret ourselves about right now. 

True story, folks. I kid you not. 

There's not a damned thing any of us can do in the immediate future to make those things the least bit different, not right now. We can moan and groan and gripe and complain until the cows come home and it's not going to do anything except waste our breath and our time.

So ditch the telescope for the time being.

Grab that microscope and start focusing on things you can do something about. Instead of whining about Big Government and Fat Cats, put your local area under that microscope.

Why?

Because, my friend, the larger picture that we all think we want to have this huge impact on so everything will change for the better is made up of guess what?

Without getting all technical about fractals and golden ratios and all that, I can tell you this:

The whole is but a bigger representation of its parts.

You want to change Big Government?

Look in the mirror because you yourself are a part of it.

Look within your own family.

Look at your community.

Look at your County.

Look at your State.

You know what you're looking at?

Duh.

See, our nation, the United States of America, and its government, is built on the rebuttable presumption that she has a halfway educated populace who KNOW what the heck said government is supposed to be doing, and not doing.

There's a whole lot of rebutting going on right about now regarding that presumption, both here at home and in the world at large. So be it. That's another thing we can't do anything about at the moment. Let it be for now.

We're all at least partway familiar with our three branches of government, right? Legislative, Judicial, Executive.

How familiar are we with another set of three that's even more important than those? Hmmm?

Federal, State, and We the People, which I've listed in REVERSE order of importance for a reason.

The reason is that the above order is the way We the People have been taught about this hierarchy thing. 

For whatever reason, we ordinary folk have become convinced that we're lucky to even be on that list. When it comes to Authority, what do we believe? That the Feds are at the top of the pile, then the States, and then (maybe) us. We really do believe that, have believed it for a great number of years.

That is NOT the design of our Constitution, people. It is NOT the way our nation is built and not the way it's going to function the way it's supposed to.

Back to telescopes and microscopes.

The Authority of this nation doesn't begin out there somewhere, in Washington or anyplace else.

It starts microscopically small, to go with our theme here.

It begins with you. 

And me. 

And all the them people and the us people that make up WE the PEOPLE. 

Think about that for a minute. It's right there in the Constitution that rules our nation, for cryin' out loud. More than once. 

And we aren't only just the starting point - we are the whole of it. 

WE are the ones, you and me and Jane and John over there, and every other citizen of this Constitutional Republic (what? you thought we were a democracy? oh my. well, that will have to be another post I reckon)

Where was I?

Oh yeah, the starting point of the Authority by which this nation is supposed to be governed.

That would be us.

We're also the next point, and the one after that, and the one after that.

Since the outward spiral of Authority seems to have taken a twist somewhere along the way, there's only one way this nation can get herself back into the balance she's designed to have.

We need to quit worrying about telescopes for the moment and turn our focus to the microscope - we have to look at the beginning point.

That would be us.

Quit trying to look 'out there somewhere' for answers and changes. If 'out there somewhere' was going to fix anything, it would have been fixed long since.

And I'm talking to our young folk here. (Us older ones too, but you young folk have a chance of seeing this thing through so I'm passing the buck to you. You'll be the ones to benefit, too - not us old folk.)

YOU are going to look into your mirror. 
YOU are going to look around you at the people you know. 
YOU are going to decide how much of a difference you are going to make.
YOU are going to decide how much of an impact you are going to have on your own Life, your Community, your County, your State, your Nation, and your World. 

YOU. 
The one you see when you look in that mirror. 

YOU are We the People.

The Authority of the United States of America does not rest with the folks in Washington; it does not rest in the POTUS; it does not rest in any of her many branches and twigs and leaves. 

The Authority of the United States of America belongs to her people, the cellular level of the bigger organism.

YOU.

Intimidated yet?

Nah.

All of what we've been thinking about who wields the Authority in this nation is pretty much hogwash.

Me, I don't expect to see any big huge changes, not in what time is left to me here.

YOU, however,  you our young folk, might just find inside of yourselves the 'whatever it takes' to make things get back to the way they're supposed to be.

I can't make it happen. 

The best I can hope for is that maybe one or two of you will have enough common sense to read your own freaking Constitution, think about what it's saying, and realize that YOU ARE THE AUTHORITY OF THIS NATION. 

Yep. And then proceed to exercise that Authority the way you're supposed to.

How?

By understanding that while you all by your lonesome are not the only Authority in this nation, since every Citizen shares that, you can be a darned important part of the whole.

How?

By looking in the mirror.

Huh?

Well?

Are you or are you not committed enough to making things better to step up to the plate and get things rolling in the right direction?

Me? I'm no politician.

Well hallelujah for that! 

We don't want any more politicians. 

It's not anything anybody has ever been supposed to make a career out of. It's something you take time out of your life to do for a while, because you care, because you want to make a difference, and then you get back to your life.

If you aren't 'public figure' material, look around you for someone who is. Then get them voted into whatever office they might be interested in.

Yes.

I said VOTE.

From the microscopic beginnings, the Authority of the people of the United States continues through every step of the way. Those cells are what makes up the whole thing, you know.

Did you know that your County Sheriff, the person YOU your own self voted for (or not) is the ultimate Authority within your County? Well yeah, if you've read recent posts, you know that.

You know WHY said Sheriff has that Authority? Because that person is representing the collective will of YOU and everyone else in the County. THAT's where the Authority comes from. It comes from US, the citizens of the United States of America. That's how come a County Sheriff can kick the President of the United States out of the County, and jail him/her if they refuse to go. Because the Sheriff isn't acting on his/her own Authority but on the Authority of the people who elected him/her.

NOBODY in this nation has any more Authority than anybody else, unless they're acting in accordance with the collective will of the citizens, Authority which has been accorded them BY the will of said citizens. And the Authority so accorded by the citizens can be revoked, you know. By the ones who accorded it in the first place.

That bit of information isn't bandied about much, is it?

If somebody is in a position of Authority, it is because we said so. That makes it our responsibility to maybe take a bit of interest in who and what we have a say-so about.

I tell ya.

We get so wrapped up in trying to look through that telescope at who's in Washington that we totally don't pay much attention to the stuff that actually matters to us on a daily basis.

That 'daily basis' is a whole lot more vital to our health and well-being than whatever we're trying to see by looking through the wrong end of that telescope. 

I tell you this and I tell you true.

Start taking care of things nearby and get that spiral thing going. What happens on a local level, on every local level of this nation, matters a hell of a lot more than anything else right now.

Why?

Because it is from out of the Center of Authority, the Authority wielded by the People of the United States of America, that the Future is going to unfold. 

It is going to be our own local folks paying attention to our own local elections, and choosing folks who are ready, willing, and able to do the job they're elected to do - by the will of their own local folk - that will bring out the leadership we're all looking for.

No, it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take a damn long time, and a whole lot longer than it actually needs to take because we don't realize that we can do it.

'A revolution would be quicker' - and yes I've heard those actual words come out of someone's mouth.

'We need to re-write the Constitution' - that's another one.

'The States ought to secede' - heard that one too.

They're all baloney.

A revolution wouldn't speed anything up any, believe me.

The Constitution is fine just the way it is, which people would figure out if they ever took the time to read it.

States Rights are outlined in the Constitution; when it comes right down to it the States have a lot more say-so than we're led to believe. Not as much of a say-so as We the People, but neither are they the helpless pawns of the Feds like some people seem to think.

Looking through the wrong end of the telescope again here.

Start where you're the most comfortable. That's the way it's supposed to be in the first place so what the heck. 

Pay attention to what you see under that microscope. If there's a problem out there at the other end of that telescope, chances are you'll find the virus or bacteria or germ or whatever's causing it right there in the petri dish of your mirror, your home, your community, your county, your state.

We honestly don't have much recourse at the moment for fixing what ails our nation. That's flat out too big for us to even wrap our heads around.

BUT.

We can start trying to knock out that ailment in ourselves, in our homes, in our communities, in our counties ... do you see where I'm going with this?

The Authority of the United States of America - bottom line - is me. 

It's you.

How are we going to wield it?