The Demon presidency is coming apart. He finally felt bold enough to do something that is waking up the spellbound.
I wonder what the spellbound will wake up to. Will it be the three dimensional world? Or will it be a new and improved spell?
And will the intimidated hope their capitulation will be forgotten? Or will they search themselves for the courage they couldn’t find before?
The demon was substituted for a real man long ago. He lives now inside a decaying hulk. He is a decaying demon.
He has gone from a conscienceless con man to a demented destroyer. His human form is sloughing away.
Now it’s not just the unfortunate suffering cruelty. Now, it’s everyone worried about survival.
Now, we are going to see how broad and deep the survival instinct runs in America. And will those of us in three dimensional reality be reinforced by some of the awakening spellbound? Will the intimidated find their courage? Will the untested stand true?
My porch faces northeast. The storm is coming from southwest. I hear it rumbling this way.
The sky opened up and framed the sun early in the afternoon. During those hours, I ventured out. I walked along the narrow asphalt that circles the park, enclosing picnic grounds, playgrounds, campgrounds, cabins, and the recreation hall, all set about the little central lake. In the center, the lake is dry now, the bottom shaggy with rust-colored brambles. I am walking to the Recreation Hall, where I have enjoyed the company of family— reunions— time and again over the last forty years or more. Of all the state parks we’ve gathered at, this has been the favorite.
The grand old Recreation Hall is a monument from the Civilian Conservation Corps, a gift from the New Deal. Built of huge blocks cut from red stone, it sits at the edge of a slope. The front meets the driveway with a rustic wall pierced by rows of windows. The rough stone walls on either side rise from the falling slope, so that at the back a blank wall rises up eight feet to a concrete terrace with a view to the dry lake.
Inside, the hall is a polished cement floor roofed by heavy beams and rafters with cast-iron chandeliers. The banks of windows let in the light. It shines on the floor, but it can’t reach to the rafters. I love the old smell in there. Off to one side is the kitchen. Off to the other side is a breezeway and bathrooms.
I stroll out onto the terrace. It is filled with the images of family members, younger, much younger, some now gone. I linger among them. Everywhere I look I see memories of people I loved, and some I just tolerated, busy with each other. I look over the broad stone parapet down to the grass where kids play.
It occurs to me that this place is a locus of power— not in the manner of the Hill of Tara, or of Stonehenge, but a monument to family. I’ve been told that the foundation is sinking or sliding, and the building is cracking. This a national treasure. Cherish and preserve it.
Passing by the fishing pier, I meet Madalyn, a park ranger who is there to teach visitors to fish. She talks to me about Mexican plums and mountain laurel and pine warblers, and beavers.
Back at my cabin I read a little and rest a little. This cabin is sided with rough-sawn planks stained red. It is also built on the edge of the slope down to the dry lake, with a suspended plank porch jutting out over the slope.
It’s a tidy little place with a pitched ceiling and walls of stained plywood and a plank floor. Two bunksets face each other at one end. Two good arrays of windows face each other at the other end with a door in the end wall. The windows begin high on one wall, with a featureless kitchen counter below. They stretch low on the opposite wall, with a breakfast table inside and the porch outside and the lake view beyond.
Outside now there is no view. The windows are all black. The night is full dark. The storm has passed by without passing over. It grazed us with a little sprinkle.
The toads are singing. Not the lamented Houston toads, but their cousins. I knew Houston toads in Houston, long ago. I’m told the rangers spread Houston toad eggs in ponds in the spring. But they have not re-established themselves. I hope they will.
Ranger station seen from behindRustic old Rec HallLooking down the back terrace of the Rec HallSitting on the back terrace of the Rec Hall.We remember the CCC crew who built the Rec Hall.Roomy kitchen invites a cooking collectiveGrand hall for family feastsPicnic ground in the clearingPlayground amidst nature for keeping kids away from it.No water at all in the dam spillwayThe dam spillway is bone dryOnly a small pond remains of the lakeFishing pier beside the damMexican plum bloomsCabin overlooks the dry lakeComfortable dinette looks out tall windows.Morning light on the cabin’s back porchSun rises over the dry bed of the lake
Our Constitution no longer functions. It must be amended. The public will to amend it is rising. But the difficulty of the amendment process has driven Americans to despair. The solution is to amend the amendment process.
Every serious citizen grasps the importance of the questions that face the United States today. They are not so different from the questions that faced the British Colonies. Will the people be free? Will they be the authors of their own lives? Powers are arrayed against the people. A royal empire weighed on the founders. An autocratic oligarchy weighs on us.
The people were then, as now, divided. Then, at least, there was an argument for civility and mutual respect, though the argument suggests the difficulty. Today, people are hectored and beguiled by demanding distractions that rob them of their mental balance. Some have fallen under the spell of manufactured illusions.
Rewriting Article 5, the amendment power, just could be the one amendment that could make it through the legacy process. The country is grievously divided, but all agree that the system is not working. Everyone would like to amend it.
The original process gives all power to the minority. One third[1] of either House can prevent Congress from proposing amendments. One third[2] of the legislatures can prevent conventions in the states from proposing amendments. And if any amendment proposal makes it through that gauntlet, one fourth[3] of the states can prevent ratification. It makes the Constitution a very inflexible and nonresponsive document.
The process should be redesigned to resolve stalemates, which means a majoritarian process. Some might wish the process could be guided by elites. But elites couldn’t make the system work. Maybe they weren’t very motivated, since the system was working for them.
It should be an open process, one that is initiated by either Congress, state conventions, or petition by the people. Congress would pass amendment resolutions. The people could propose amendments by a Statistical Majority, that is the number of voters sufficient to represent a majority of citizens. State amendment conventions elected by a Statistical Majority would propose or support amendments. Citizens comprising a Statistical Majority would sign petitions to propose or support amendments. Any of these proposals would be put on the next federal ballot.
The people will vote. An amendment approved by a majority of voters is adopted. The House printing office will print copies of the amended Constitution sufficient to fill all requests.
Once this process is in place, a large pent-up glacier of amendments will begin to move. Who can play the long game? Start preparing.
I’ve been working on a rewrite of the Constitution. Several writers have plowed the ground, outlining the issues and some paths forward. I had to think the problem through.
We are at the point with our Constitution that the Founders were at as the Articles of Confederation were breaking down. Our Constitution is breaking down. Those brilliant men in convention in Philadelphia put together a solution that held for over 200 years (with the assist of the savior of the union). Where are we going to find brilliant men- and women- like that?
I’ve been reading the Federalist Papers. Three of the conventioneers– Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay– wrote a series of articles explaining the defects of the confederation and urging the benefits of a federal republic. Their arguments still ring true. And now we have almost two and a half centuries of experience to inform our understanding of the situation we are in.
We know the defects of our Constitution on a very practical level. But we also know the sound foundation on which the defects have wreaked their havoc. We don’t have to start over completely. It’s an interesting challenge.
I can’t resist. I want to give it a try. I want to design a structure to function without the defects. That’s what I’m trying to do- write a first draft of the new constitution. I’m already on draft five, but when I let it out, that will be the first draft. Ideas welcome.
There is a specter stalking America. It is the specter of Totalitarianism. This specter inhabits the body of a demonic demagogue. But it is supported by mobs of the unthinking, the amoral, the ambitious, and the avaricious. It is opposed by a quavering line of political time servers wondering how much they must risk to stop the destruction.
The destruction continues apace. The demagogue and his henchmen unilaterally disarm the nation’s intelligence services, stand down our defenses against foreign influence, discontinue our efforts to root out the manufactured lies and myths infecting our discourse, give a green light to corruption. The demagogue cavorts across the globe, bullying our friends, befriending bullies, betraying the free people fighting a menacing dictator overseas. He exploits every weakness and buried flaw in our constitutional system to seize power.
What is an alarmed citizenry to do? The long game is to rethink our political organization and governmental structures. Even our philosophy of society. But the immediate crisis requires us to go to the barricades. Will we fight as hard for our freedom as the embattled peoples in Ukraine? As hard as American soldiers once fought in the trenches of a burning Europe?
The first order is to choose the real leaders among our political classes. Who will stand and fight? Who will advance? Rally behind them.
There’s no way to sugarcoat that election. It was a whuppin.
The newspapers are full of analysis. The Democrats didn’t understand, or they did it wrong, and here’s what they should have done, and finally, here’s what they must do. There’s a lot that needs to be said, and a lot that just wants to be said.
I’ll just say a few things. Here’s my answer to the question I posed in July. I’m sorry to say that Biden choosing Harris as his running mate was one of his mistakes. This is not because she was unworthy. It was because Biden chose someone he did not have confidence in to carry forward. That inflated his conceit that only he could do it. It also reduced his party to tongue-tied indecision.
Kamala, for her part, ran a spirited campaign, but one obviously missing any forethought. She was light on her feet and did a creditable job of making it up as she went along. That wasn’t enough.
I can’t say much about how Trump won. I do know that a majority of voters were willing to risk the destruction of our democracy in order to get off the track we’re on now. That should be clarifying.
What can we do? In the short term, compromise where we can, resist where we must, and fight where we have the people with us. But we have some big long-term work to do. Thinking to do. First we must think philosophically, then strategically, then intentionally, and then tactically. Don’t rush this. It’s important.
Kamala Harris has risen brilliantly to the opportunity that fate has given her. She began her short race for president with a smile that outshone the sun, giving the country new hope. She has laid out her case for election deliberately, forcefully, and convincingly.
Her case is a good one. First, and it must be said first, her opponent is a malignant man of the worst character and the most dangerous ambition. She, in contrast, is a dedicated public servant with strong patriotic values. Second, her vision for the country is one of reconciliation and modest but solid advancement. Third, she has been part of an administration that has already accomplished landmark advancement toward the country’s goals.
It is the duty of all citizens of good will to turn out to vote for this remarkable stateswoman. While in the booth, we must also vote for Democrats for Congress, to give the future President Harris the majority to accomplish great things. Let there be no doubt on November 6 that this country has chosen the path of freedom, democracy, and progress.
At the last minute, and after anguished pleas from many Democrats and many more Americans, Joe Biden has withdrawn from the presidential race. At last, without admitting it, he has acquiesced to the reality that his age is catching up to him. This was the reality that Americans were worried about for the last two years and terrified about for the last month.
He has acted when it is very late in the season, when there is almost no time for an open nominating process. So, the party has thrown itself at Vice President Kamala Harris, endorsing her to take on Lying Devil Donald Trump. I’m optimistic. I think she can take the old blowhard. I liked her in 2020, but she couldn’t perform. Then she stumbled through her first two years as vice president. But now, she seems to have found her footing.
I was never a fan of Joe Biden, the Senator from Big Credit. His long career in the Senate contained as many mistakes as successes. Then he turned out to be a very successful president, producing landmark achievements for the Democratic Party and for the country, including bold new programs on climate change, infrastructure improvement, and economic reform.
But even in success, Biden was undermining his legacy. His first big mistake was letting Kamala Harris flounder for two years. His second big mistake was deciding to run for a second term. His third big mistake was refusing to face reality until it was too late for the party to make a considered nomination. Now, we’ll see if his selection of Harris for vice president was one of his successes, or one of his mistakes.
Why do I ride the rails? First, because it’s the mode of travel that contributes least to the destruction of the natural world. Second, because it’s miles better than the flying torture chambers of the airlines. Third, because it’s much less work than driving. Most of all, because it restores romance to the sense of travel. It’s adventure!
I had a hard time sleeping this trip, going north. My insomnia is unpredictable. My trip going south, crossing different track during the night, I slept well in the roomette. Can’t say much for sleeping in coach: it’s possible.
Think about all those train stations named Union. Remember that President Lincoln, while he was wrestling with a civil war, promoted the building of the first coast to coast track that tied the Union together. We can do it again.
Look for upcoming adventures:
The rolling stock; The tracks; The politics; The funding; The cost; The alternatives.
Providence is about 1600 miles from Austin. By air it takes about five hours. By car it takes about 30 hours. By train it takes about 60 hours. That’s three days and two nights.
Take a look at the route map. First, notice that there is a gap in the network along the Gulf Coast. That section was taken out by Hurricane Katrina. It is scheduled for restoration this year. Something the map doesn’t show is that on most routes, the train only runs once a day, and not fast, either. It’s a skeletal system.
To fly between Providence and Austin can cost: basic economy under $200; first class about $500. To ride between Providence and Austin can cost: coach, under $300; business, up from $300. Here’s the kicker. You’re going to be on the train for two nights. You want a room. A roomette adds about $500 per night, or $1000.
You can compromise by riding coach one night and sleeper one night. That’s what I did this trip. Or, you can fly part way and take the train part way. I’ve done that, riding the Acela to Washington and flying from there. That’s pretty easy, and comfortable—a one-day trip, no overnight.
How about one overnight and a shorter flight?
Here’s something I want to try next. I could fly to Chicago and ride the sleeper from there. I like the crew on the Texas Eagle, and I’d like to see them again. But the tracks have some rough patches. And the dining is decent but not great.
Amtrak pulled all the full service diners for all the trains during covid, or so I’m told. Since then, they’ve restored full service dining to some trains, but not the Texas Eagle.
Or, I could ride the sleeper down to Jacksonville and fly from there. The Silver Star runs from Washington to Florida. And the Silver Star has full dining.
The Crescent runs from New York to New Orleans. If I get off in Atlanta, I can get a direct flight to Austin. Or, I can ride all the way to New Orleans. Then the Sunset Limited to San Antonio and the Texas Eagle into Austin. I don’t know how well the connections match up. I could fly from New Orleans.
RobinCravey 