Month: September 2021

I resumed writing these pages in earnest initially as a response to the 2016 election. Like many Americans I couldn’t believe that Trump won. My concern was quickly borne out as his administration took form and coalesced into a political nightmare for the country. His subsequent denial and behavior toward the coronavirus pandemic further convinced…

There are many folks who for any number of reasons could never be Democrats. Some understandably don’t agree with the party’s support of a larger role for the national government in regulating the economy, taking responsibility for health care, support for environmental and climate actions and a host of other issues. Others simply dislike anything…

I sometimes think that we should just forget about politics and get on living our lives. Yet, the darn truth is that politics really drives how we can live our lives. Yesterday, I had lunch at a local food truck that was a wonderful respite from the sordid nature of contemporary politics. It made me…

The recent recall election for the governor of California raises an interesting question. What if there had been the possibility of a recall vote on the former president near the end of his term? The idea of recalling public officials goes back to the Progressive movement* of the first couple decades of the twentieth century…

Letters From An American* By Heather Cox Richardson September 14, 2021 This morning, the team of Democratic senators working on a voting rights measure that could meet the demands of conservative Democratic West Virginia senator Joe Manchin released their bill. The 592-page document is described as a bill “to expand Americans’ access to the ballot…

A friend who is an attorney in Cocoa, Florida, sent this article as a commentary on yesterday’s blog entitled “Seven Days Away.” I hope you find it interesting as an insight about conservative/Republican doublespeak. This article is from the Century Foundation, a progressive and independent think tank founded in 1919. Conor P. Williams is a…

I was without television or internet for about a week after returning to Potlatch. During this time I got a lot done on the property – cutting, mowing, hauling rocks and grading the roads. It was a time to reflect and think about how most of us live today connected to the 24 hour news…

As noted by the posting of a “sympathetic friend,” my internet here at Potlatch was down for nearly two weeks due to Hurricane Ida. It fried the television in the kitchen, killed Alexa, my internet connection and its Apple wireless airport. When hurricanes hit the gulf coast they take a northeast trajectory through the north…

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” (The Persian Wars by Greek historian Herodotus) doesn’t apply to blog postings via the Internet, as you might have noticed by my silence these last few days. Thanks to a remnant of hurricane Ida…

Recently a friend sent me an article by a pastor that got me thinking about my life. By John Pavlovitz* entitled “Missing The America That Never Was,” it described the chasm between our beliefs and the reality of America. It resonated with me as I looked back on my experience in Dubuque, Iowa. Garrison Keillor…