Costa Rica Guy

Is Everything Really Meaningless?

December 13, 2020 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

Meaningless! Meaningless!
Says the Teacher.
Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.
Ecclesiastes 1:2

Those were the musings of perhaps the wisest of all men.

But why did he write that everything is “meaningless”?

I was reading Ecclesiastes one morning years ago and the question really had the gears grinding in my head.

Solomon later writes that “man has no advantage over the animal.” The same fate awaits them both.

Pretty dreary perspective, huh?

The way I look at it we’re all given a pre-determined time interval to occupy – it’s called life. It begins the moment you are conceived and ends the moment of death.

When your life begins you are a clean slate, a zero starting point…

How you apply your energy during the time interval either accumulates positively or negatively to your impact.

I wrote long ago that “who you are” really is simply a mass of swirling atomic energy, just like all other matter that exists in the universe.

What do I mean by “impact?”

Well, viewed from a religious perspective, it is the effect on eternity stemming from the application of your energy during your particular interval.

All major religions of the world basically espouse that our actions in this life have such an impact.

But how about from a purely secular perspective?

How we apply our energy during the interval can also have an impact on the world we leave behind.

Let’s call this our legacy.

It seems that King Solomon was depressed because he just couldn’t grasp the “meaning” of life from any other perspective than its enjoyment in the interval. In other words, why should I care about “legacy”, since I am not going to be around to enjoy it?

Moreover, how can I be sure that the idiots that come after me won’t simply ignore it, or abuse it (my legacy, that is)?

Why be concerned with anything other than what I can experience during my interval?

Well, looking at it selfishly, the extent to which we are concerned about our legacy – that it is a positive one – could in fact make life more enjoyable during your interval, from a motivational perspective…couldn’t it?

So from that perspective Solomon was dead wrong…

Everything really isn’t meaningless.

Because the more one is concerned about impact, the more one is going to engage him or herself in activities that do in fact bring enjoyment during the interval!

I will readily admit that at times life does seem meaningless.

Maybe Solomon was just having one of those “days” when he wrote Ecclesiastes.

The problem is that as soon as we try to apply our energy in a chosen direction, we immediately encounter resistance from opposing energy forces.

It could be within our own heads, or it could be “out there.”

But if we keep that concept of “legacy” at the forefront of our consciousness, it helps to push through, despite the resistance.

In fact, that resistance can strengthen us and thereby make our own force more impactful.

I guess I’m just not buying Solomon’s theory that “everything is meaningless.”

Caring about my impact, both on the world I leave behind and on my position in the one that potentially could exist in the hereafter, should provide deep meaning to my life…my interval.

Reflecting on the Big 60

November 30, 2020 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

Turning 50 really wasn’t that big of a deal…

Oh for sure, we did the big 5-0 birthday bash, complete with me singing my signature karaoke bit, El Rey, fronting a band of Colombian mariachis. And the hangover the next morning had me feeling the pain of every inch of five decades of struggle against gravity.

However, this time we’re talking a number of more significance. Many would say one that marks the beginning of “old age.”

There won’t be any wild birthday bashes this time around. As Hank Williams, Jr. sang, the hangovers definitely hurt more than they used to!

While I do respect the number 60, as it signifies a stage of life that can mark the beginning of a downhill slide to, well, you know (a metaphor having both positive and negative connotations)…

I’m not afraid of it. At least not deathly so…

After all, I’m arriving at the number with a life blessed in so many ways.

And I refuse to embrace the pessimistic idea that its year of arrival, 2020, is a bad omen…

I don’t even believe in omens, good or bad.

I have a pretty good life. I’m married to a beautiful lady of about 5 years my younger. We are both in good health. I’m nowhere near “financially free”, so I’ll probably spend the next decade selling real estate here in Costa Rica. And that’s okay! I really enjoy doing it and I’m finally starting to see some success with it. We do plan on doing a bit of traveling, especially to her home country of Colombia.

I have four great kids, two married, all healthy and successful in their own right. And I’m sure some grandkids on the way in the not too distant future. Oh, and my wife has three herself and one granddaughter already on the scene in Colombia. We’re a multinational “Brady Bunch.” And that’s really kind of cool!

Other than my car, a meager wardrobe and a few sticks of furniture, I own nothing. Many would be frightened by that at my age, but, honestly, I like the fact that I’m not locationally tied down via “asset ownership.”

And I gave up the idea of being rich and famous long ago!

As I sit here, reflecting on the Big 60, I see my life in thirds…

The first third was one marked in many ways by self-destruction. The second third by trying to reconstruct that damage done. And this last last third, the Costa Rica third, as one of self-discovery.

Even though the last twenty years in Costa Rica have been marked by many “highs” and “lows”, I am eternally grateful for how living in this country has changed me.

Sometimes I wonder where I’d be if I’d never taken on that fateful “Universidad Interamericana” deal back in 2001 that brought me here and forever changed my life…

I guess I’d be working in an office, maybe as an attorney, or financial advisor type. I’d probably have “money”, as they say. I’d probably have a nice home and retirement account. In short, I’d probably have a lot of those trappings of success that mark the American dream…

I’d certainly be a more respected human in the eyes of many back “home.”

But, then again, maybe not. Who knows?

Nevertheless, here I am. A Costa Rican citizen, no less!

A Costan Rica realtor.

And as of the end of this week, an “old” one.

They say wisdom comes with age. After witnessing the way many in my new age group embrace the alternative fact universe of Donald J. Trump, I kind of question that…

However, I do think wisdom has come to me via the life experiences I have had, especially that of being a dual citizen, or as I prefer to think of myself, a world citizen.

It has softened me, humbled me, and it has gifted me with a more open mind.

Of course, being married for the last 12 years to my Colombian borne wife, who doesn’t even speak English, has greatly contributed to that open-mindedness!

I believe the more open we keep our minds, the easier it is for wisdom to pour in. Well, granted that it also helps to have a good filter installed to keep out the garbage.

For me that filter has been, in many ways, this platform that has allowed me to get thoughts out of my head and to share them with you. That process helped me develop this worldview that I hold dearly to, the one I call impact mindfulness.

The one that keeps at the forefront of my consciousness the principled triad of altruistic service to others (impact over interest), inclusivity (the Big US), and open-mindedness (removing impact blinders).

This week I plan to make some decisions about the direction I want the next 10 years to take, especially concerning two things: my health and my impact.

I want the next ten years to be marked by both…a renewed commitment to health (physical and mental) and to making an impact, creatively.

I have struggled the last half of my 5th decade to get my financial legs back under me. I believe I’ve largely succeeded in that effort. However, the struggle has taken a toll on my health and my impact. Not that I find myself in seriously bad health, but it definitely could be better.

And focusing so intently for the last five years on fixing the self-inflicted financial mess that came to a head back around 2015 has taken my focus off of things that I know are more important.

In Costa Rica we like to say, “hay mas tiempo que vida” (that there’s more time than life). In other words, we don’t get too stressed down here over the idea that time is fleeting…pura vida…

But, in reality, it is.

I guess the most significant thing about turning 60 is coming to that realization.

So, I believe it’s time to renew my focus on those most important things.

And of course to have some fun in the process!

Oh, and that might mean that you’ll be hearing a lot more from me here…

Humor this newly minted old-timer with your patience, and perhaps a bit of your attention, as I try to get back to what I believe my life really should be all about.

#MAUA – Make America United Again

November 16, 2020 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

The 2020 election is history!

Well, sort of…

It was definitely one for the record books, having been conducted in the midst of a raging pandemic with record turnout, much of it before election day!

Despite claims to the contrary, it appears that Joe Biden has won and will become the 46th President of the U.S.A. He won by a healthy and still increasing margin, both in the electoral college and even more-so in the popular vote. Biden won in the popular vote by almost 6 million votes, twice that of Clinton’s margin over Trump in 2016.

Nevertheless, for many in the country (over 70 million many) the election is not over. They are clinging to this conspiratorial idea, perpetuated by Trump, that the election was “rigged.”

It wasn’t.

I can remember Trump saying the same thing about his 3 million popular vote loss in 2016. He even appointed a commission to investigate. They found nothing.

Even though the election is “over”, the political division in the United States isn’t anywhere close to being over.

What will it take to make America united again?

As if it ever really was.

I was thinking this morning about what foments this division. Obviously the two sides have different ideological ideas. Much of that is centered on a disagreement about the proper role of government in American society.

I’m not going to get into that discussion in this post. I have in many others.

What interests me more is what is really causing us to hate each other with ever increasing intensity and how can we escape that cycle?

Isn’t it true that when we get angry at someone over a disagreement, or a perceived slight, and take action on that anger to exact some level of revenge, that it only perpetuates a cycle of more anger, retaliation, and damage to both sides?

Generally, such cycles end in either of two ways…

One side gains dominance and is able to intimidate, or suppress, the other from further retaliatory action, or
Ongoing reciprocal retaliation eventually results in both sides being totally annihilated.

Well, I guess sometimes we’re able to forgive and make up. However, that requires one side to fess up and admit error. With respect to the current ideological division in the U.S., I don’t think that’s going to happen.

I am late to the series Sons of Anarchy on Amazon Prime. I have been binge watching it lately and currently I am on season 5. The series glorifies the biker life, especially via the experiences of Jax Teller. However, what is evident to me in this tale of violence and revenge is that violence and revenge only results in more of the same. I’m not sure how close I am to the end of the series, but I can already predict what’s going to happen…and it’s not going to be a positive result for Jax, or his beloved SAMCRO.

What I don’t want to see happen is for the rival “gangs” of Republicans and Democrats to suffer the same fate…mutual annihilation!

Trump has been a scorched earth President like none we’ve even had, including Nixon. And he seems intent on leaving the White House, the Presidency, and indeed the entire country, well, scorched!

And he’s got millions of followers who agree with him and are urging him on!

Of course, to be honest, the other side hasn’t been very kind to Trump, or his followers…

And therein lies the issue that I am trying to get at…

We seem to be locked into a cycle of disagreement, anger, and retaliation.

Sure it’s going to be hard to make America united again, when it really never has been. However, I am old enough to remember a time when we could at least disagree without hating one another and seeking the destruction of the other side!

In a democracy the majority does have the final say. We like to say about Presidential elections that “America has spoken” and we (the collective we) must accept that result.

However, that doesn’t mean that the minority, who don’t see things the same way, should just be trampled over. That’s what foments the anger that leads us into cycles of incivility, like the one we seem to be trapped in now.

Social media has certainly played a role in perpetuating the division. It allows us to retreat into echo chambers of like-minded opinions and alternative facts that support those opinions. And with the advent of new social media options, like Parler, that cater to our preferred tribal propensities, social media will likely only make things worse.

I believe the answer lies in less ego and less desire to be right. Neither side has a monopoly on rightness.

Like I said above, you can boil down a lot of the disagreement to the proper role of government in our lives…

Certainly there is some happy medium that we can all live with!

Government is not “our” enemy. When it is functioning properly, it should reflect “our” collective will. Maybe, we should argue less about the role that a “dysfunctional” government should play and focus more on ways to cure the dysfunction!

A government that truly reflects the will of the people will be one that both sides can have greater trust in and thus we might have an easier time agreeing about. Don’t you think?

This election and even this damned pandemic will soon be distant memories. Donald Trump will fade away, trust me. It might take a while, but life will go on.

We can either learn to live together, or we can continue to hate, continue to exact revenge, and overpower and that cycle will go round and round until, like SAMCRO, we annihilate each other and our country in the process.

I believe that it is possible for us to make America united again…

But to do that we have to escape the cycle and re-learn how to disagree agreeably.

And that means the ability to keep an open mind, accept alternative viewpoints and compromise without resentment, anger and desire for ultimate revenge.

Otherwise, I am afraid to tell you, our country just ain’t going to work, for anyone, anymore…

That’s not a good result for America, or Americans, or the rest of people and planet.

#MAUA

Slouching Towards Autocracy

September 20, 2020 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

The late Robert Bork, failed Reagan nominee for a U.S. Supreme Court seat in 1987, once wrote a book entitled, Slouching Towards Gomorrah. In it he attacks a variety of social, cultural, and political experiences as alleged evidence of a U.S. cultural decline and degeneracy. Among those noted are affirmative action, increased violence in and sexualization of mass media, the legalization of abortion, pressure to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia, feminism and the decline of religion.

Bork was the former U.S. Solicitor General who ultimately carried out Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre” firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

Bork, like the current U.S. Attorney General, William Barr, was widely criticized on the left as an advocate of disproportionate powers for the executive branch of the federal government, arguing for what seemed to be executive supremacy.

Even though Bork was unsuccessful in reaching the Supreme Court, his extreme right-wing conservative ideals prevail under the presidency of Donald Trump. I am quite certain Bork would likely have approved of the autocratic Trump in many ways.

Which brings me to the question of today’s post, namely, what exactly is the vision conservatives have for America?

What exactly is the “again” in Donald Trump’s infamous campaign slogan, “make America great again?”

That is, if they have their way (which they just might come November 3rd), what will America look like?

We’re about to complete four tumultuous years of the extreme right-wing struggling to have their way, only to be met with fierce resistance from a middle left majority. This struggle has led to a level of political division never seen before in American society.

But if the far right could completely have their way (and another four years under Trump could in fact give it to them), what would America look like?

More than likely women would be far less empowered and certainly deprived of power over their own wombs…

People of color would be forced to accept the unfair abuse suffered under the current prison-industrial complex, lacking the voting power to really do anything about it…

The wall separating church and state would be chipped away to non-existence, giving rise to a theocratic state in which a right-wing christian evangelical ideology would reign free to indoctrinate, as well as emasculate competing world views…

The scourge of a gun-toting society, which requires our children to undergo frequent active-shooter drills, (and all too frequent live situations), when they should be free to learn in a protected and peaceful environment, would only grow larger and more uncontrolled…

The constant scapegoating of immigrants, blaming them for economic problems and increased crime, would continue unabated an certainly even more unabashed…

The unspeakable ravages we face under the threat of climate change will only become more of our day to day experience of reality…

Our cherished freedoms of speech and press would be further diluted, as those in power seek to silence competing views…

Any president wielding executive powers to further solidify the above listed features of right-wing autocratic rule would be granted the deference of a monarch, as Trump has been granted in many ways by a willing and complicit U.S. Senate…

Trump-era conservatism seems to be slouching towards autocracy, or a system of government by one person, one party, and one ideology with absolute power.

Trump recently made a comment that betrays his view of America and how it should be governed. At a White House press conference Trump suggested that if you excluded blue states, America’s high number of Covid-19 deaths wouldn’t look bad compared to other countries. Specifically he stated, “If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at.”

Overlooking the abject falsity of the statement, it does seem to betray a worldview of some sort of conservative utopia in which liberals simply don’t exist at all, or are at least completely subservient.

It seems that Trump (and his supporters) really believe that their actions are what’s best for “America”, as long as that America only includes them, or at least only matters for them…

But it doesn’t.

A President may get elected on a party ticket, as either a Democrat or Republican. However, once elected he is the President of us all.

Trump just doesn’t seem to get that. And, again, neither do his supporters.

Believing that they know best for all of us, they, with Trump as their leader, are more than content to impose their brand of conservative ideology on the rest of us.

And they are more than happy to give Trump unfettered power to do so.

That, my friends, is what autocracies are made of and we seem to be slouching towards autocracy with ever increasing eagerness and velocity as each day brings us closer to November 3rd.

This week we witnessed the death of the beloved liberal Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, aka, RBG. RBG has probably done as much or more to empower women as any woman in our nation’s history…

And with just a little over a month to the November 3rd election, and within moments of news of her passing, Trump and his senate majority leader crony, Mitch McConnell, vowed to fill RBG’s seat with a Trump nominee, one who will surely not see eye to eye ideologically with the late and great justice, nor with a majority of the American people.

And they propose to do this even though they denied Barack Obama the opportunity to do the very same thing with his nomination of Merrick Garland to the Court in 2016. A nomination that was stonewalled by McConnell and ultimately filled by Donald Trump.

That level of shameful hypocrisy is mind-boggling, to put it mildly…

They could care less, however, because, after all they’re doing what’s best for the country, or at least their conservative version of it.

Or, so they think…

The nation is at an important crossroads. The results of November 3rd will forge the direction we take for the foreseeable future…

And that will be one of self-governance for the good of all, or autocratic rule for the good of less than a majority.

If we continue slouching towards autocracy then those with power will be completely willing and able to impose their version of what is “good” on the nation.

I don’t believe that’s really what “we” want, now is it?

So, what are “we” going to do about it?

I have a hashtag solution for you…

#VoteThemOut2020

Clinging to Capitalism

September 6, 2020 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

I watched an interesting video recently addressing the question of whether the U.S. is currently experiencing the end of capitalism…

That is, whether we are currently in the throes of “late stage capitalism” and must either usher in something different, or see the system collapse under its top-heavy weight.

What exactly that “something different” might be, the video did not pretend to know.

Why are some of us clinging to capitalism, tooth and nail, while others can’t wait to see this economic system, that has truthfully raised standards of living for most human life on earth, go the way of the dinosaur?

I believe that for many capitalism has become a religion, or at least synonymous with religious ideals, often grounded in evangelical christianity. That’s sort of odd when you consider that the person the religion is based upon, Jesus of Nazareth, was anything but a capitalist.

It seems that many of us believe our democracy depends on capitalism and vice versa.

But capitalism is just an economic theory, nothing more. It is not god-ordained and our democracy was not founded upon it. In fact, when our democracy was founded there was an entire segment of our society denied access to the market and instead bought and sold as chattel on that very same market!

Capitalism is not an “American” concept, having originated in Europe. But it took hold and took off in the U.S. like wildfire…

And most of the creature comforts that we enjoy today, like this laptop I’m writing on, came to us by virtue of capitalism.

So, why, you ask, would we ever want to do things any other way?

Because capitalism, as laudable as it might be in many respects, is in others an increasingly destructive economic system.

It depends on destruction for its very existence…

Old products are replaced by new, weak competitors are ousted by the strong, and the quality of life of the workers whose blood, sweat, and tears actually produce all this fancy stuff is constantly sacrificed on the altar of higher profits.

The end result of capitalism, its late stage, as the video refers, is a society in which the vast majority of wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny percentage, while the rest of us grow economically stagnate…

In other words, pretty much the situation where we find ourselves in the U.S. in the year 2020.

In 2016 we had an opportunity to make a change, a drastic change. I’m not talking about HRC, but Bernie Sanders. The astounding level of popularity his campaign experienced just wasn’t enough to lift him above the establishment, who are of course clinging to capitalism like no other segment of society, well, save for the evangelicals…

Of course they would do that, since their jobs depend on support from the class that has benefitted the most from capitalism run amok. As for the evangelicals, I really don’t understand their die-hard attraction to a system that would be anathema to their professed savior and lord.

So, back to 2016…what did we do instead?

Well, of course, we elected the most monstrous example of capitalism run amok we could find – Donald J. Trump…

A man who is so wedded to the transactional ideology, that he can’t even understand why the soldiers under his command would ever sacrifice their lives for the good of country.

Is that really where we want to go as a society? Do we really think that a transactional approach to life is the correct one?

Donald Trump sure does!

He believes that there are two types of people in the world, winners and losers. The winners are the ones who are better at gaming the system for their benefit at the expense of the losers and suckers.

Those poor men and women who believed in an ideal of patriotism…that they should dedicate their lives to a greater good…they’re all losers and suckers. Those who survived the attempt and now stand as stunning examples of the potential costs of sacrificial service, well, they should be kept hidden from sight as bad examples.

I like capitalism. I like the idea that economic prosperity can come to those who work hard and to those willing to take risks that have the potential for great reward. I believe our society and those the world over have enjoyed great benefits as a result of men like Gates, Bezos and Jobs.

However, I also believe that the dark side of capitalism must be collectively tempered.

Clinging to capitalism, even the brand that has run amok as of late, because of this ideological notion that any idea to the contrary is socialistic, communistic, or just downright demonic, is the type of thinking that might actually lead to our end, that is, the end of capitalism and democracy as we have known them for the last 200+ years.

2020 gives us another opportunity to turn the corner. Once again, good ole Bernie was turned away for a more establishment line of action. And that does not bode well for what might lie ahead.

America can be great again. The last four years have borne witness to an America in decline, in the eyes of the world…and in the eyes of many citizens who are appalled at what it has become under the leadership of this zero-sum, transactional and lunatic ideology we now call Trumpism.

The truth is that electing a President, any President, is not what’s going to make America great again…

What will make America great again is for its citizens to take control and sacrifice ideology and tribalism for the greater good…

What will make America great again is to stop clinging to capitalism, or any ism for that matter…

And inspire a new generation to truly believe in the still exceptional spirit of America…

The spirit that has lifted us out of dire straights many times in the past…

And can do so now, but only if we will believe in ourselves and have faith in the promise of America…

A promise made to all of US, regardless of race, religion or ideological tribe…

The time to act is upon us!

Yearning to Breathe Free – Part 2

August 28, 2020 by costaricaguy 2 Comments

Government imposed equality is NOT freedom…
But neither is market imposed inequality…

This Yearning to Breathe Free – Part 2 is a follow up to an older post I wrote a few years back.

So then, what is freedom?

I mean, really, what is it?

I recently posted about freedom as being the unifying concept, or that it, at least, should be…

However, our disagreements about what freedom truly is are at the heart of the division we’re currently experiencing.

The scientists and doctors involved with managing this pandemic are telling us all to wear masks and “social distance.”

Many regard that as an assault on freedom.

Others would argue that sometimes we must curtail personal freedoms for the good of the collective whole.

And daily we see videos posted to social networks of normally decent citizens tearing each other’s eyes out over the issue of mask wearing in order to protect the health of their fellow humans!

Why can’t we agree on this basic issue – what is freedom?

Of course, freedom is not altogether free. Sort of like the “free” market isn’t either, now is it?

What we mean by free, with respect to the market, is that it is free from interference…

that it is allowed to charter its own course.

Which is what I guess most of us would likewise enjoy individually.

But without diverging into economics, a completely “free” market isn’t altogether possible and for that matter, neither is a completely “free” individual.

The market does not and cannot exist on its own…it is not a product of nature. It is a product of collective agreement. We agree on how the market should operate and give government the authority to make sure it does indeed operate in that manner!

And our own personal freedoms connote some responsibility to others. This idea is enshrined in the oft-quoted expression that my liberty to swing my fist ends where your nose begins!

So, can anything be truly free?

Perhaps not in the sense that freedom must have its limits, or boundaries.

The political fault lines seem to align with our varying perceptions about where those boundaries lie.

For instance, conservatives are adamant about a free market, with minimal government intervention…

However, they are equally adamant about “law and order”, with clear boundaries and enforcement concerning certain actions they deem societally harmful…

like drug use, for instance.

Liberals on the other hand clamor for more government intervention into the market and less into our personal choices.

I posed the question in the unifying concept post about whether or not there could be a happy medium?

Since we all agree that freedom, at least in theory, is good and we all want to enjoy it…

Couldn’t we also possibly come to some tacit agreement about the limits to said freedom?

Let’s consider an example where disagreement often arises…

Take health care, for instance…

Can a person be truly free if he or she lives under the constant threat of an economic disaster stemming from an unanticipated sickness or injury?

I have many conservative friends who, if I could venture a guess, would answer no to that question.

So, why is it that as soon as we suggest taking the health care issue off the market, so to speak, and making it a “public good” to be collectively (meaning government) administered, are we right back at each other’s throats?

My conservative friends would quickly tell me, well, because government is bad at managing anything, whereas the market is good at it…

But they won’t make that same argument with respect to other public goods, like law enforcement, the military, or the fire department.

Let’s consider another example…

Most of my conservative friends would probably agree that it is not good for 90% of a country’s wealth to be owned and controlled by only 1% of its population…

They would agree things should be more equal than that…certainly not completely equal, mind you, but at least more equal than that…

But they will also fight me tooth and nail on the idea that government has any role whatsoever in equalizing that playing field…

That is the job of the market, they’d tell me…

But the robust unfettering of the market over the last several decades has gotten us into this gross inequality mess in the first place, hasn’t it?

Again, the market is organized and managed via collective, or government, action. It is NOT some freely operating natural phenomenon…

The problem is that the government, which is supposed to reflect the collective will, has been unduly influenced by those who have enjoyed the vast majority of the market’s largess. The so-called “free” market has been rigged in their favor…so, I guess in that sense it is free, but only for them.

It seems that in each of the two examples cited, the disagreements surrounding the boundaries of freedom seem to lie with differing ideas about the role and efficacy of collective, or government, action…

I’d opine that the majority on both the right and the left share the sentiment that government is inept at managing anything and what managing it does do is usually for the benefit of only a small percentage of the collective.

The truth is that our cherished freedoms are both promoted and curtailed by “collective” action and lately, that action has been far less than reflective of the popular (or collective) will.

The concept of “self-government” does not only mean taking personal responsibility for ones individual actions, it also means taking collective responsibility for our collective actions, i.e., our government!

That is a fundamental tenet of democracy! Self-government does not work without that level of personal and civic responsibility.

And we seem to be doing a piss-poor job of it lately.

The point of this post is that if we all want to enjoy the freedoms we so seemingly cherish, well then, we need to do a better job of collectively managing ourselves, don’t you think?

We need to pay closer attention to how we actually employ self-government in practice…

How do we do that?

That’s a very good question that I’m afraid I don’t have a cogent answer for…

But I do know how we’ll never be successful at it…

And that is by staying the current course of being at each other’s throats about that very issue of…

how the fuck to govern ourselves in order to maximize the freedoms we collectively cherish?

After all, in the end, the freedom we enjoy as a society is our collective responsibility.

Isn’t it high time we stopped retreating to our respective tribal corners and irresponsibly shirking that solemn responsibility?

#VoteThemOut2020

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