Author: wwducat

There was a nationwide “No Kings” protest.

Apparently, the turn out was substantial in many cities. Surprisingly, at first glance it appears the violence was kept to a minimum.

I didn’t tune in to any of the news coverage. I just don’t give a shit anymore.

Here’s what an AI had to say about it.

“The “No Kings” protests aimed to highlight opposition to President Trump’s policies and advocate for democracy and individual rights, but their immediate impact on policy changes remains unclear. However, they did mobilize significant public engagement and awareness around issues such as immigration and government accountability.“

The AI noted that it might be inaccurate, so as usual take everything an AI says with a grain of salt or an entire salt lick.

It was very quiet up here, I think most of the locals stayed home. Who can blame them? A lot of the folks up here commute to LA daily.

They must have been exhausted with the protests after a week of slugging through traffic that was wadded up by multiple road closures.

I spent part of the day looking for a job. I was also looking for places to live where the demographics were more favorable to people like me than California.

I think I want to live someplace inexpensive, probably rural, where the values I have, are shared by most of the people surrounding me. Not everyone has to think the same way I do, but I want to be around people that understand having differences of opinion is not tantamount to emotional violence. A place where discussion of those differences doesn’t result in physical violence.

In other words, I’m ready to check out. I’m tired of the insanity. Try as I might to avoid the news, the politics, the incessant wailing and gnashing of teeth, it’s getting more difficult all the time.

I just don’t care. Deport people, don’t deport people, love The President, hate The President, believe Congress is doing their jobs, or don’t. Reparations for black people (again) or not, looting isn’t a crime, or looting is a crime, have police, don’t have police, It’s all the same and has been for decades.

I just don’t want to hear about it anymore. 

I’m sick and tired of failure. No matter how we vote, we are not in control of the institutions that subjugate us. The powers that be, are not, and probably haven’t acted in the interests of anyone but themselves for decades, possibly even for my entire life.

For years in my 20’s – 30s I had no interest in politics. I was just trying to survive. My whole life has been about trying to get a leg up, trying to be a responsible individual, and being a good upstanding citizen. You know being a good guy…

My work history is a testament to not being in control, I served only at the leisure of people and corporations that viewed me as nothing but a cog in their machinations and who thought nothing of discarding me and 100s of other people just like me, at the drop of a hat.

What has it gotten me? A lifetime of holding on by my fingernails and for what?

I begin to understand one of my Grandfathers once saying, “There may come a time when you envy the dead.” At the time I thought he was just being old, cross, and cynical. 

Now I’m starting to see what he might have been talking about. He was looking at years of unrest, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Hippies, Yippys, the Cold War, mutually assured destruction, protests, violence, increasing taxation & regulation, government scandals, corrupt politicians, breakneck technological innovations, and social engineering, that ultimately seemed to make things worse and more complex, rather than better.

For him there were a constant stream of golden dreams, that always turned out to be lead painted with cheap gold paint.

I think my father felt it too. It might have been why for a time, he lived on a farm and only re-entered the rush of the world because of a family disaster. For my Dad, that re-entry cost him everything, and he still had the strength to pull it together and stand tall and proud right up until the end. I don’t know if I’m anywhere near as strong as he was.

Both of my Grandfathers, and my Dad, used to say the system was rigged. Generally speaking, they tried not to contaminate our childish dreams of better lives. They’d send us kids out of the room, or the house, to go play in the sun and enjoy the security they provided for us, when they were talking about “adult” things.

I recall my Dad being in favor of rebooting the government every 20 years or so. His theory was to strike all the laws, and restart from ground zero with The Constitution, Bill of Rights, and commonly accepted laws about thieving and killing. He was in favor of putting every politician, judge, and bureaucrat on trial.

He thought those trials should be held by the people and that the people should be the ultimate authority. He was in favor of marching the guilty straight to the gallows or firing squads as an example to other politicians and those with political ambitions.

He eventually mellowed, but maybe he had a point. He was about consequences, and in my lifetime I’ve seen where “no consequences” has led us. We have hundreds of thousands of laws, but they’re selectively applied or perverted to allow the “desired” outcome. Is that law?

I’d love to have a conversation with my Dad & Grandfathers about that philosophical question.

I wonder if my Dad & Grandfathers would be laughing their asses off at the “No Kings” protestors. Not because the protestors are saying no kings, but because the protestors are so clueless. If you think about it they and all the rest of us are serving, and have been for most of their lives, a diaphanous imperial model.

The people pulling the strings, are the same powers that have always been behind the thrones.

My Dad once said offhandedly, “The King isn’t the guy to watch, he’s the distraction. It’s the advisers and members of the court that are the real threat.”

Well Dad, it’s taken me 40 years to figure out what you meant. I guess I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

To my Grandpa’s on both sides of the family, and to my Dad. Happy Father’s Day. You’re missed, loved, and thought of often. I wish I could talk to you.

This just crossed my mind and I know you’d all laugh, “Do the Amish take in converts?”