My thinking has once again veered sharply radical. Bitterly opposed to The Way Things Are. The system is just fucked up, and we all know that. Now is the responsibility to do something and not just continue to obliviously grant it our consent. We need to make our Change, and not count on just electing some guy president who says "Change" and "Hope." Yes, we need those things, and it was good that he brought those words back into the political discourse, but WE need to BE our Change and Hope. If we want Change that is going to benefit US, WE have to make it happen.
How do we do that? We have to research and learn, develop our principles as individuals, and figure out how we can put them into practice. We need to gather with like-minded people and pool resources to make our common vision real. And, we need to ally with different-minded people who share our core interests or principles in pursuit of those interests and principles against those people who are actively seeking to harm our interests and destroy our principles.
It's just a shame that the middle class always sides with the Rich against the Poor. I guess the middle class hopes that it will be granted entry to the Rich, and not become the Poor. Side with the winner. Unfortunately, only a very few of the middle class ever gain entry into the Rich -- like one in a 10,000 or 100,000 -- while the Rich-serving policies of the last 25 years have pushed thousands if not millions of the middle class into the Poor. The middle class is like the runty, dorky twelve-year-old hanging around with the high school varsity football players hoping to be let into their pickup game. They shove him aside and laugh at him, and next weekend he's out there again, hopping and skipping at their heels saying, "Can I play? Can I play?" He's a fucking moron! That's what he is: a crazy fucking moron!
-- All new construction should be required to generate at least half its own energy, and recycle at least half its incoming water. Including renovation, remodeling, and addition.
-- All new development should be required to promote pedestrian traffic and inhibit vehicular traffic.
-- Parking should be scarce and on the periphery, while buildings are close together and linked by public greens.
-- People should be allowed -- nay, government must recognize that people have the right -- to conduct business at their home and in their yards. The right is not unlimited, and should be denied to limited liability entities. Business size in residences should be limited, but large enough to allow the family to provide itself a life of luxury and travel.
-- Government must recognize that people have the right to grow and enjoy the fruits of any crop they choose on their property. The right is not unlimited, and they can be required to do so in a fashion that protects the rights of their neighbors, but a person who wants to have chickens and devises a way to keep them from waking everybody up every morning should be able to do so. Of course, if we knew our neighbors and had a sense of shared purpose (i.e., we're all in this together) with them, it wouldn't be as much of a problem.
Secessionism is in the news. It is fascinating. It is timely. The world is changing. The days of the nation-state may very well be ending. I read that article with interest, because I, too, have become a secessionist. Not necessarily that I want my state to secede from the Union, but that I want to secede my family from the United States. But not just from the United States: from the world the Superclass is creating. The United States is just the kernel from which the Superclass will create its world. I want no part of it. No, my thinking has been dominated by two related words:
Exile
Exodus
Open your eyes and look within
Are you satisfied with the life you're livin?
We know where we're going
We know where we're from
We're leaving Babylon
We're going to our Father's land
Come out of him my people
Come out of him
Yes, exile and exodus. Exile is being driven away or leaving your land without agreeing that your ties to it are broken. If you are in exile, you are away from home with the intent to return when you can. You cannot live under the political power of the time, but if that power ends, you will return. Exodus is the flight of a people from a land where they are oppressed to a land where they believe they can live in freedom.
My family is leaving the United States as soon as we can. We want to live in a place that cares about its citizens, that sees providing the basic needs of all as being its primary purpose. We want to live in a place that values health care for its citizens over the ability to project military force over every square inch of the globe, and into the space around it. So we will leave. We don't know where we will go, but it might be to the west coast, given the increasing divergence between those states and Washington, D.C. We might choose internal exile, or internal exodus.
That is primary news piece number one. Our goal is to leave the country. We do not agree with the governance of this country, and we no longer consent to its rule over us. I was born a citizen of the Republic, and I want no part of the Empire.
The other piece of news is my renewed determination to write.
A writer is one who writes, so if you want to be a writer, write. I saw or heard that aphorism somewhere recently. I do not remember where or who said it. I just know that it resonated within me and gave me a mental slap in the face. It is so obvious. If you want to be a writer, write. Don't worry if it will ever sell or if anyone will ever read it. Write it, and let the rest take care of itself.
So I am writing again. Writing is my number two time priority now. First is work. Must pay the bills. Second is writing. I guess I should talk about "productive time priority." The people in my life will not be neglected. I love my time with my wife and with my daughter. That time is crucial. That is the time that makes us human.
I have begun another book. When I wrote Broken Doll, I did a couple of things. I got Mary's ghost out of my brain. I told her story. And I completed a book. So only a few people ever read it and I will never sell it or publish it. I wrote it. I am now starting my second book. And it is my first. I am returning to the book I spent my college years writing. I was like a pickup truck in the middle of a wet cornfield. Blind Faith. This time I am going to complete it. The book is my vision from my college years. It is my life's work. This time, I am going to complete it.
In addition, I am blogging. Every day, I will blog something, whether it is in this blog or one of the other blogs. I will not stop. Finally, I am going to return to pamphleteering. It's in my soul. Samizdat was one of the best things I ever did, even though the readership was so small. I will make and print a small journal with news stories and my own writings. I will invite a couple other people to write for it. I will point people to a website for it.
It is suddenly time for me to go.
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