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Wednesday, July 04, 2018

The Differences

Any nation that takes seriously its government's role as being truly representative of a majority of its inhabitants should keep some important differences in mind:

  • Between nationalism and patriotism.
  • Between cunning and intelligence.
  • Between cruelty and strength.
  • Between "America First" and "America Alone".

The premise and promise and principle of self-governance is -- get this -- that citizens are supposed to be high-functioning enough to, you know, govern themselves, to vet for qualified candidates to elect to represent the needs of the people. Silly, right?

Built into all that is the responsibility to pay attention constantly, and be engaged as much and as often as possible. It's not just about sitting through an endless stream of attack ads, and landing on the last ad you saw, or the candidate with the best hair or smile or stage patter, and then trudging off to the voting booth to flip a coin.

One of the greatest of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, who like Alexander Hamilton did as much as anyone to build the foundation of the country without ever attaining high office, famously said that we had a republic, if we could keep it. Bear in mind that right now, six Republican senators are celebrating the birth of their county by sucking up to Putin in Russia. Bear that in mind and act accordingly.

Happy Independence Day to my fella 'murkins. May this be the last one we have with the current fucktards in charge.

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