Life as We Know It
We are a chemical string
A make-up of molecules
With a dose of energy
Evolved to survive
As a species as we can
In a world we have
Begun to change ourselves
But no longer competing
As we once did for food
We compete for ideas
For the wealth of leisure
With no need for destroying
Each other… yet we do at times…
For the right to endanger ourselves
As we please…
Is this de-evolution?
I’ve been thinking about the results of the election last week. The fact that although Joe Biden won, there really wasn’t a so called blue wave. The results were narrow, in the sense of 5 million out of around 145 million votes cast. But it is a clear enough repudiation of DJT in that Biden won, while down ballot Democrats continued to struggle. This means many split their vote. It seems to me that people are saying they’ve had enough of Trumps divisiveness, we want political figures to work together, not simply fight. Furthermore there is a rejection of a completely progressive agenda. People want a blend. If you take away the labels, such as socialism and progressiveness and focus on the issues, Americans are remarkably liberal.
Locally in Florida Trump won the majority of the vote because of favorable business regulations and taxes, but a minimum wage increase to 15 over a 5 year period was approved by 62%. People see this as fair. It was simply treated as an issue to consider, not a liberal issue as it could have been labeled. Likewise Amendment 1 was clearly a very right wing initiative to re-emphasize that you must be a citizen in FL to vote in FL by adding the word “only” … it was a do nothing (except excite rightwing voters) amendment, and it was rejected by voters.
Clearly normal stable leadership is desired. The experimentation with divisiveness and anger conservatism was rejected. Furthermore people want to see advancement on issues that make our lives better as well as the lives of our fellow citizens. If we stop labeling and staking out intractable positions, maybe we can talk about problems, and find compromise solutions.
A beautiful example is healthcare… who in this country would say that we cannot afford for everyone to have healthcare? I doubt anyone would say it’s not affordable. Yet 45 million do not have health care insurance, and another 38 million lack adequate healthcare insurance. Is that a result that we are proud of? I doubt it. But we should work to address this issue with ideas from all sides, not trenches, with a no-mans-land in between, from which we lob grenades, arguing over nationalized healthcare… do away with the labels and figure out what makes most sense. The reason we have employer-based health care is because of an accident of World War 2, there was a wage freeze mandated, and so providing benefits was the only way companies could differentiate in the competition for human resources, so we landed there. Is that the best solution when there is an economic downturn? I think not.
Sensible conversations about issues is needed. Sensible problem-solving is what Americans voted for. Sensible leadership is what we all desire. Stop labeling each other!
Blackbirds
Hundreds in a flock
Do they think as one
Are they individual
Members of a flock
Or a flock with members
They lift off as one
They react as one
They fly like one
They attack a field as one
But they are many…
Who are we
Individuals or a flock?
The Great Contest Is Over
And when the celebration comes to an end
And it’s time to clean up the terrible mess
We realize our world will now depend
On how we now converse and address
With each other and messages we will send
To unify and forgive to assure progress
For without such we’ll surely deepen
The divide, anger, and we will regress
To an even more terrible and total end
Defeating the purpose of a great contest
Donald Trump gave a most un-American speech last night. He attempted to undermine democracy, to disenfranchise voters with baseless claims of fraud. To claim that he can not lose, if only legal votes are counted, while undermining the hard work, the diligent work of election workers that are on the front-lines of making democracy work. Claiming that mail-in ballots are fraudulent without basis. These are words of a dictator. Words that could only be labeled as un-American.
Words matter, but his should be dispersed to the winds, and never be recorded for histories sake, except to illustrate why he had to go, why he must not be part of our government. It is no surprise to me, it is as I expected. Will Republican Senators and Congressmen stand up to him? Someone must, we all must.
Ah the wisdom of our early republic, to have the states manage elections in their own way, so that they may not be invalidated in a sweeping motion of a dictatorial executive. Now I understand, what was hidden by a previously inconceivable scenario, that could not be seen until Trump arrived with intent to undermine our democracy, and fortunately he finds too few levers in the federal government, for each state manages the election process in their state, and the results are in the form of an electoral college. Thankfully it is not the popular vote, through a federal election process. What great wisdom our founders had.
But we must also recognize that some 69 plus million people supported Donald Trump for another 4 years. Their issues and their worries must be respected. They are worried, I believe, about the impact of socialist tendencies of the left-wing of the Democratic party. It is vital for the process of uniting our country both that Joe Biden wins, but also that he and Kamala Harris hold socialist tendencies at bay. We can get there but we have a long way to go to a future where we can work together for the common good of all Americans, even DJT and his family.
Short
Is a genetic disposition
And a financial imposition
A cut that gets me there soon
While arriving mad as a loon
Due to a shot that didn’t get there
And the length of my graying hair
While my sight or shall I say insight
Fails clearly before being alright
In the view of life that seems today
There’s more to do, more to say
About love and poems that rhyme
But there is so little left of time
Brilliant Idea
I had a really good idea
A point I just had to make
Now I just can’t remember it
But it was right there
Then the phone rang
Now it’s gone
But I was brilliant in a moment
I know I was
But maybe not so much anymore 😉
Vote
We have our thoughts and analysis
Of what they said, and histories
Of what they did
And we make our decision
We invest in our choice
We invest in our future
But one of hundreds of million
Who do so, with reason or emotion
And await the outcome
For which,
Too many will say
They are not invested in that future
And more however, will pray
That they are right about that future
Simple Joys
With voices loud and shrill
They scream at whatever they will
The sea and it’s waves roaring
The birds, slashing and soaring
The fish beneath the churning seas
As well as playing-chasing puppies
They scream for sheer joy
For a box they’ve made a toy
For stairs or hills and gravity discovered
Or for something they’ve dug and uncovered
And their joy echo’s in eager hearts of old
With long-forgotten simple joys re-told
Climbing
As I climbed a mountain
With a treacherous and uncertain path
I found too few rocks of interest,
I found too few flowers of scent
I was exposed to the day and night
I was aware of birds and critters
That passed me during exertion.
I knew of others on the climb
Those that led, sometimes made a path
Sometimes made me stumble with loosen stones
As I did for those that followed me.
I felt big and successful nearing the top
For then I slowed, noticing for the first time
That the world had many mountains
In a distance I could see
And the stars were close and bright
And there were rivers and lakes
And so much more I’d never known
And then I knew I was small
But happy to know that I was