Horses in Mokelumne Hill

One of the primary things I want to do with this page is to have my own editorial forum, and to write about personal things that happen to my family and me.  I have a page of what I call "Rants," which is my assembled collective editorials, past and present.  Some are personal, some deal with my immediate reaction to some current event, and most are political.  My most current rant is here on the home page.  I also have a few photos on the Photos page, which I will change periodically, according to my whims.  And as I become more facile in designing pages.  I have also added a special photos page containing the best photos from our recent trip to Tahiti and Bora Bora.  Here's the link:  Bora Bora.
And I've now added a page of the best photos from the four trips we made to Hawaii.  In mid-October, 2009, we for the first time saw the summit of the volcano Haleakala, which dominates (in fact, which created) the east portion of Maui.  The link to the Hawaii photos is Hawaii Photos.

So, (hopefully), enjoy. . .

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People have always said how great things used to be.  On every part of the spectrum of political leaning, there is a universal feeling that things suck now compared to “before”.  Those on the right feel that liberal policies are entirely to blame, and that if we could return to the way of life of, say, the 1950’s, the world would run a whole lot better.

Those on the left end of the spectrum often feel that if just raised taxes on the wealthy, government would have the resources (money) to provide housing for the homeless, and a guaranteed minimum income for all, national health care, among other things, it would solve everything.

There are substantial flaws in both arguments.  In the 50’s, we had government-sanctioned apartheid; cars spewing lead-filled exhaust into the air; and kids in cars driven by chain-smoking parents (the last I can personally attest to).  And the visions of “Woodstock Nation” held by many of my generation never quite came to be, either.

In my view, the biggest obstacle to a general improvement in our societal situation has arisen from the right and the left viewing governing as a zero-sum game in which it’s not important whether things get better as long as one can blame the other side.  This is made substantially worse in a climate when much of the public, on both sides of the political spectrum, believe things that are not true. 

The political arena which existed when I first became politically aware, in the latter half of the 1960’s, was one in which both the right and the left held widely disparate positions on the issues of the role of government in addressing societal problems, yet, for the most part, the politicians were able to work effectively notwithstanding their basic positions.  Another characteristic of politics then was the diversity of thought within parties; there were liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats.

This isn’t to say that the leaders then got everything right; Vietnam is a good example of that.  But things started to change around 1994, with Speaker Newt Gingrich essentially declaring war on liberals in general and Democrats in particular.

It has now reached the point where the Trumpists have abandoned traditional concepts of democracy in a quest to have Mr. Trump enthroned as the supreme leader for as long as he wishes (or lives); the Constitution be damned.  This isn’t hyperbole; he has in the recent past suggested that the Constitution be “suspended”.

Now many, most on the far right, are acting the way people did in Tombstone, Arizona in the 1880’s; guns readily available and used at the slightest provocation.  As interesting a time as it may have been back then, I have no desire to live in 19th century Deadwood or Tombstone.

So what is to be done?  It appears to me that the only way out is for a coalition of moderates (on both sides of the aisle), liberals, and progressives who still believe in democracy to turn out in great numbers, vote the anti-democratic forces down to the point at which (hopefully) the democratic republic which the Founding Fathers established is effectively re-established.  At some point, the parties will return to the conservative/liberal orientations they have historically had; it may not happen immediately, though.

We can still disagree, but we don’t have to do it in a hateful or vituperative manner.

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One other thing . . . my wife Darcel and I make music, with our bass player Jon Joscelyn.  We call ourselves The Darcel Trio.  Look us up on Facebook under "The Darcel Trio."  That page also has a link to our regular web page.

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I'd love to hear from you about what you think of the page.  My e-mail address is pkeene@yahoo.com.

Thanks for visiting!!

Pat