The question

The beginning of the end

       Or is it the end of the beginning? Who knows? Who really cares?

            The subject is the new world USA where I live these days. Now I have lived other places, too, so I truly do appreciate what we have. As I say to a younger friend who is a county government employee, while things may suck as he sees it, I know there are worse places to live and be in. I'll take the good ole USA as a start point anytime. He generally says he agrees with that approach. I generally say we have something worth fighting  for.

            What has amazed me is how fragile our country seems to be after the present federal government, to include all three branches, has had its way for about five years. I choose not recount all my complaints and frustrations, but rather focus on the future and getting through long enough for things to get better, which will happen...eventually. My intent is not to complain; anybody can do that.  Rather it is to use good old fashioned leadership to improve things, which often includes the vote. Moms and Dads often know what I mean.

            Said another way, things have not always been this screwed up. It did not have to be this way, though it obviously is this way. Said even another way, I don't accept the status quo as "normal".  It is anything but "normal". We still have laws and rules and timetables that must be honored. Our vote still counts in this government we have chosen to rule us. And I still believe in governments, including our "right" to change it. I expect some obvious "changes" to happen. Most of these "changes" will address our human "bad" instincts, including one simple idea like using education to indoctrinate and "dumb-down".

            And now many millions may have to die given the way things are going, including me dying. Bummer if this comes to pass. And by many millions dying, it could be by starvation, by being cold and wet and miserable, by war over food and water, by war over human defects often in judgments, or just plain too many people that often brings on pandemics, including after hard times initiating events.  Heck it could be a wild card mother nature type event, and even our response to it.

            There's one expression that always appealed to me. It goes something like "for lack of knowing what to do, we do what we know". That's me, pretty much. One can even say, if they are brutally honest with themselves, that they know enough to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. For example, I think I know enough about security;  but growing food even as a gardener is a weak point for me. Fortunately, there is plenty of training and info out there already. I am not the first person to go through this process. Much of this is pretty straight forward with little ideology involved. More it is like basic skills. Even religion has a place in this scheme, too. After all, people will still want to be married, and people will still die of many causes, and we humans will still get hurt and sick.

            The basic idea is to both preserve and promote civilization for our children and grandchildren.  I can't imagine returning to the Middle Ages, for example. Now this effort will take work, time, and it looks like some suffering in the interim, too.

            And what I perceive is a century of past failed ideas is coming to an end, with all the ensuing turmoil that affects me.  I could generalize it as "progressive" thought, but it is more pervasive than that. After all, some of the ideas are wonderful, like equal rights for women, integrating the races, protecting the workers, etc, etc. Even now deceased Margaret Thatcher said something like "progressivism is a wonderful idea, until it runs out of other people's money".  I myself see it as even more simple, like the idea of laws to rule us, or standards of behavior and common sense from culture to rule us. I expect much friction to continue for a time, like until 2020; when something  "new" or "rehashed" comes about.

            I expect the impact will probably be on our children and grandchildren more than the older people, who will gradually die out anyway. And I expect the emphasis, faith if you will, that morals and values and principles applied will count a lot in our rule and future existence on the earth. Said another way, the present spoiled generation of baby boomers after WWII will die off as their children and grandchildren, at least the survivors, will take over the cultures we humans live in around the world, and change it for the better, I hope.

            So is this forecast, guess if you will, the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning?  You decide.

            Right now it is raining on my garden, and that is enough for me right now.