A Rare Coinhabitant ...and A Sense of

      the mystical saguaro exists in only 4 places-

the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, the Whipple Mountains of San Bernardino County of California, the Mexican state of Sonora and Imperial County California

     These images come from Arizona, where the Sonoran Desert is home to the largest population.

    The icon of the desert southwest often live to exceed 150 years. Those with arms, produce their first after 50-75 years. 

       They dwell from the valley floor to the top of buttes and share the space with other cacti, and a plethora of birds and creatures including lizards, sidewinder snakes, scorpions, rats, squirrels, tortoises and cotton tails. One walks with care in this desert. 

  the chola 

 the barrel cactus

sentries of the desert  

the sense of the voter

     I used to get paid to pay close attention to political campaigns,  now I do it out of habit. 

     Back when I thought it was the true national sport, we spent time on buses, flew on planes, and we took turns in small groups of having close up access to the candidate after which we would write what is called the pool report, that was then distributed to all media. 

     All of us also did reporting we called "the Sense of The Voter." David Broder of the Washington Post was probably the best. You go out and talk to everyday people, mostly listening. Today there is social media and attitude driven cable nets also crowding the traditional media and press corp in reach for the public.

     It's always changing, not only in personality but in the nature of the campaign. It is, if you will, the appeal to the soul of the US. What we see these days speaks volumes about how we have changed, and what we've left behind.

     I think we've devalued our national experience by not doing a good job of teaching civics, government, and critical reasoning.  We need wise "understanding media and persuasion classes."    

      Politics has become a profession, and a cash cow industry. Public service is not the prime motivator, no, now it is personal, financial or ideological. That is how it is.

     So this old boy offers a "sense of the electorate" to any candidate or organization.  The nexus of your strategy, the focus of your attention should be the women and men who are working, but struggling as they see the future shrink away and diminish just as the middle class is in decline. If I were to put a face before you, I would post a working woman. What are her needs and expectations and how can the federal government play a responsible role?

       Next to that would be a picture of a family, however it is constituted. How are they doing? Can they afford health care, or sending children to college, what kind of retirement future do they have? Do they have benefits? 

       The economic balance is out of kilter and there are bad consequences for all including the selfish class at the top. The divide in wealth, and the corrupt and broken tax code bears the omen of a struggle and demise that would be profound.

       There are other matters that cannot be ignored: Climate, personal freedom and dignity, a clam and steady hand in our role in the world community and a more civilized way achieving common good.  But the key is to hear and know the needs of what we used to call Middle Class America and to guarantee its existence and future. Everyone still deserves an American Dream, and a sense of security. 

     In 2016 there was a pandering or an ignoring. A winning candidate should act on their behalf, by offering ideas, with sound economic footing, showing a path and explaining how things can be paid for. Be specific. Most voters, especially hard working women and men know as much or more than the many politicians who have been bought and sold by the money that bets on government outcome="follow the money!" 

      Whatever color, race, sex, gender, age, origin, or whatever there are basic needs. Too many of us are not getting a fair shake. A public servant can work to change that. Start there.

        That I think would be a winning strategy by an insurgent Republican or Democratic candidate.

a hard working boat

the Ragamuffin of Los Osos

people work for their living here

      See you down the trail.

     

WHITHER AMERICA?

a painted November sky in Morro Bay

whither America?

     At this moment let's leave red and blue out of the picture and think about something that is in the best interests of everyone. There is a visitor to this nation that threatens us with a brain and heart killing disease, despite what is our politics, personal belief, color, ethnicity, identity or dream. What threatens us all is the lack of reasoning.

    Emotion has become our operating system and it is to our detriment. The evidence is everywhere; in the way people "talk" to each other either in social media or face to face,  political advertising plays to emotion, our tone is inflammatory and emotional, objectivity and analysis is drowned out by volume and emotion. And of course we are divided by just about everything and we are very poor at being civil in our disagreements. 

    The history of the US is the history of disagreement and competing forces, ideas, beliefs and philosophy but we've always held together at the center, found compromise and accord with that one tragic exception.

a house divided

       For the next 726 days of your life and mine we find ourselves caged in the reality of the 2020 Presidential election. Count them off if you wish, but it will be an enormous challenge to tune them out. For our well being, for our survival, we need to change the tone and begin thinking.

     Objectivity and analysis need to override emotion but that too will be a challenge.

hacking the human heart and mind

       Ponder this briefly-James Bridle is a British writer/artist/thinker who wrote THE NEW DARK AGE-Technology And The End Of The Future. I heard him interviewed recently where he makes the case the digital and networked world is increasingly influencing human behavior and especially in advertising and media. Algorithms impact almost every aspect of our social interaction and consumer behavior now. Bridle asks what happens when technology knows your likes and dislikes to such a degree that it can purposely hack your emotions-to the extent it can affect your pulse rate, your sense of well being, by controlling the information you see and hear.

      His concern is that an artificial intelligence, an algorithm will "reason" the best way to get you to do or like something is to manipulate you, relentlessly.

     We humans are and have been doing that to and with each other, maybe forever. But now we've become so emotional, so overloaded by loud and divisive voices, with so few places for retreat and sanctuary that we are a bundle of frayed nerves and trigger fingers and tongues. Add the sophistication of AI and we've just upped the chances of disaster. And that is made even more sinister when adversaries, like enemy powers or rogue agents try to intrude  like perhaps in our election cycles.

our hearts at the mid term

     A few tea leaves to read here-if a state is 2/3 white, Democrats lose, Republicans win. Educated women vote Democrat. White women without a college degree vote Republican. 

     Florida restores the right to vote to 1.4 million felons, most of whom are black. This in a state where the governors race was decided by some 74 thousand votes.

     In voting for House and Senate seats Democrats pulled 13 million votes more than Republicans.

     Suburbs and urban areas are consistently Democrat. Rural areas are consistently Republican. Educated professionals vote Democrat. What was once considered "blue collar" seem to be voting Trump Republican. The less education one has the more likely they are to vote Republican. That is almost a direct reversal of the way it was just a few years ago.

     There are of course other divides and the analysis will continue. Some things are certain-the government is divided.

     The House is under control of Democrats who will now have subpoena power. There are public matters they will push and that could include seeing this President's tax returns, exploring his families business ties and entanglement with the business of government, the Russian meddling inquiry, Jared Kushner's business interests, what and how did the White House limit the investigation into sexual assault allegations against Judge and now Justice Kavanaugh, the sexual assault allegations against the President.

      The Mueller investigation also hangs over both the White House and the US Capitol.

      How will we behave for the next 726 days? The President's news conference Wednesday morning didn't bode well. Do citizens still expect something called "Presidential behavior?" Do we still believe that a man or woman should "rise" to the office? Do we think that a free press asking hard questions still has a place in a free society? Do we still believe that all people regardless of color, ethnicity, gender and identity should be free? Do we still believe the confederacy was wrong? Do we still believe the Nazi ideology is outside the bounds of accepted human behavior? Do we still believe the conviction of Nazi war criminals outlawed that belief for all time? Do we still believe the KKK and other white supremacists have no place in a civil society? Do we believe that pandering to the basest among us is wrong?  Do we believe that a politics of ridicule, division and hate is wrong? Do we believe we should govern toward the center? Do we believe we should listen to each other? Do we believe we can find a middle ground and compromise? What do we believe is American?

       See you down the trail.

     

What do you call yourself?

swallow tale at work in cambria

free to be...

      Next time you get a chance, slow down long enough to watch a butterfly at work. Their flight paths and industry are worth a few moments of your time.
      A slang term is "social butterfly" denoting someone who gets along with everyone, charismatic, charming and a good networker.
      Now is a great time to be a social butterfly, politically. 
However you labeled yourself a while ago is probably out of date. Whatever you may have thought about the Republican or Democrat party is also down the drain. Liberal and Conservative are old, and largely irrelevant identifiers.

       

      We are a culture stuck on labels. Maybe it helps, a kind of intellectual shortcut. You don't need to think about something if you can rely on a label. 
       "Oh she's a socialist. He's a right wing nut. That's a progressive for you! Liberals are that way. You know what Conservatives believe." But do you? Do the terms still apply?
      As a reporter I found using a label was a time saver. I didn't need to provide a deeper context than a word, but ideas and politics are shifting sands. Everything changes, including meaning and positions. 
       The Republican Party is no where close to where they were 4 years ago. The Democrat Party is in some kind of self imposed navel gazing and shoving match. Add generational perspectives and you have a kaleidoscope pretending to be a  telescope.
       Presently the Republicans are shot. Their historic core values dumped for an unpredictable President upon whom they are attached like leeches. 
       Do the Democrats rely on decades old patterns or will they embrace change, new ideas and listen to the abundance of youth in their number? Most of the old leadership is stale, ineffective and increasingly out of touch. 
       We wonder if the Democrats will heed a nudge the political cosmos seems to be suggesting; your women, especially veterans, a generation removed from Pelosi and Schumer?  
       It would be good for whatever is left of traditional Republicans to raise an insurrection against the President, who has stolen their party and turned it into a pack of weasels or opportunists.
      

     Party labels have a diminished significance now that candidates get most of their funding from special interests. As the importance of party shrank, politicians became less allegiant to platforms and principles and you see where that has lead us.
     As we've pondered here before, there's been such a shift in American politics classic liberalism and conservatism have disappeared. Today's divide is usually about something more mundane than philosophy or principles of rights and responsibilities of government.
     As the minority and possibly illegitimate President lays waste to a party, and frags American institutions, it would be a good time for political parties to get in sync with the true stakeholders and reshape themselves as something relevant and useful.  
      The system is broken, our sense of democracy is anemic
and most people don't seem to care.
       My friend Ray, the Historian in our group of Old Goats offers a novel ticket for 2020, Joe Biden and Mitt Romney.
       Now that's a creative thought!

       See you down the trail.