Connecting the dots my way

Connecting the dots my way

       What prompts this post is an internet article from the Washington Post about New Jersey Governor Christie's  interpretation of events. More specifically, it is an article by an Aaron Blake that focused on the rising libertarian tilt within the Republican Party.

            Now I also believe he, Governor Christie, is more savvy about interpreting events than I am, so I enjoy reading  his thoughts, and learn from them, too.  Also, to use a rural expression, often used by Johnny Carson and in Europe, "I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday". Hence, I will connect the dots my way, and how it may affect all of us. Needless to say, I disagree with the premise of the article, that is an interpretation of present events and connecting the dots.

            To do a quick American style summary, I connect the dots as we are coming to an end of an era which I'll call the "Progressive Era".  I have heard other names, too. For example I have heard "the Liberal Era", and even newer terms like the "Hippy Era", and even the "Academic Era". As now deceased Margaret Thatcher once said, progressive ideas are wonderful until they run out of other people's money.

            There is much confusion going on these days, but in the end I believe we will muddle through as best we can.  The consequences to me and others are not good these days even if the world as we know it does not completely collapse. One obvious example is the pensioners who will probably take a financial bath, and then go hungry enough to make my security problems much worse. Nobody wants to be hungry. And hunger and ill health often leads to pandemics, too.

            Now the good news. Times of turmoil also can lead to change for the better, or so I believe. Hence those who seek leadership positions at all levels have a real opportunity. My only suggestion is to focus on our future, and not our past errors. That's a freebie.  One obvious example is the rise of the Tea Party, and some later evolution will probably evolve to a third party based on an idea, rather than some individual.  I would forecast the year 2020 as the time this will become obvious, again as I connect the dots. Can anyone say Whig Party, for example? Said even another way, it has happened before in the USA.

            And more good news. The USA, and really the world, is "oozing with good leaders" who will bubble to the top. Now one does not have be smart to be a leader, but morals come into mind for me. This a Mom and Dad and cultural challenge.

            Now the bad news.  Many people who exist today are doomed to die off, often from cold and hunger and sickness. That will correct most of the problems that exist today.  I feel sorry for their Families, especially their kids. Heck I may die, too. But in such ways cultures do change, mostly out of necessity.  And along the way the present group of poor "lightweight" leaders will die off and otherwise pass into history.

            So these days my priorities are to grow some food and make some electricity. That's how I connect the dots from where I sit. And for the record, I am age 65, a retired Marine, and live in rural east Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau.  And when I grew up, I never would have anticipated even thinking this way in 2013. As my doctor's wife once said, "what a sorry bunch of leaders we have today".