July 20th 1969 and the City on the Hill

Despite my general optimism about the future when I look at our youth, a special day like this causes me a certain sense of loss and melancholy. You see, it reminds me that there was a time when there was glittering city on the hill. I mean it wasn’t perfect, nothing is, and it didn’t glitter for everyone but it was there nonetheless. It was a city that made and kept great promises, promises like putting a man on the moon.

I remember that night very clearly even though it was fifty years ago, July 20^th, 1969. I was a 21 year old dude working at Donaldson’s department store between my junior and senior years in college. Life was pretty simple and living really was easy – and girls smiled often! There was also a war raging far from home and I was headed there in a year or so when I graduated since I was in ROTC. But that was okay because on that night, watching on a tv sitting on a picnic table outside a friend’s house in south Minneapolis, as Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, nothing else mattered because I lived in the greatest country in the world. 

We have been through a lot this past fifty years, many things good and bad, but it seems obvious that this is not that America anymore. We have watched as our middle class has been devoured from within – intentionally – in the name of cheap prices and higher profits. We have apparently decided that endless wars are good for the economy even if not so great for our young troops. We have come to the conclusion that unions and public employees are now the enemy while big corporations are their victims and worthy of worship from we peons. And we've made healthcare and higher education so expensive that both are just a dream to many.

We have seen many good things as well especially in regards to recognizing that many of our citizens have had to live in the shadows because of race or sexual orientation. And, of course, we have the smart phone.

So is it any wonder that it seems like we are no longer a country full of hope, big dreams and big accomplishments? No, instead we have become a small, petty, fearful people retreating into tribes, intent on grabbing everything we own and hugging it to ourselves like some paranoid old person living alone in a hostile world. Suddenly we refuse to believe in simple science like that which got us to the moon yet happily embrace the dumbest conspiracy theories. We now distrust those who speak a different language forgetting a dad like mine who spoke Norwegian at home. We try to take back women's rights and send our LGBT friends and relatives back into the shadows to appease the least tolerant among us. We disparage those that have a different religion than ours ignoring that it wasn’t long ago that Catholics and Jews were seen as insidious outsiders. And then there's all of us white people who see danger in those whose skin color is different than ours, forgetting that in a few short years it will be OUR skin color that will no longer be the majority. There is some irony there.  

They say that empires end not with a bang but with a whimper. I wonder if we hear the beginnings of those whimpers now in the cries of children kept in pens. In the cities bulging with homeless, faceless people. In the rural areas where an opioid-ridden, helpless underclass face a desperation that is usually only seen in a depression. In a country that has been in an endless war for 18 years without any outcry from the people. Where leaders, who in the name of making America great again (whatever that means), are free to violate centuries of civil behavior, assault the First Amendment with impunity and incite their followers to abuse anyone who disagrees. Those followers, who in their haste to make themselves feel empowered, will shout unspeakable things to those they are told to fear. Perhaps most guilty of all is the rest of us who stand by, wringing our hands but refusing to take a stand as we watch these perversions of all the things that made our country great.

This anniversary of the moon landing stands as a reminder that there once was a shining city on a hill. It wasn’t perfect but it knew it wasn't and always strove to be better. We now face a stark choice: try to re-ascend that hill . . . or become a city full of whimpers and, like Rome or Great Britain, turn into the next dead empire.

Choose wisely, my friends.

Big Government? Blame James Watt.

A lot of people wonder how in the world we have come to have such big governments - federal, state, local, you name it. I, for one, blame James Watt the guy who invented the steam engine. To explain I need to start even earlier in time.

I recently finished a book called “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Harari. It’s a very intriguing book with a lot of concepts and theories that will make you really think about us as a species, the good and the bad. One particular claim he makes made me sit back and say “whoa!” He suggests that we were all probably better off as hunter gatherers or farmers. That’s right, in his opinion we gave up the natural life that humans had led for thousands of years; we just had to go get food then enjoy the simple pleasures of family and friends. Perhaps he had read Thomas Jefferson, noted urban hater, who said, “Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” Like Jefferson, Harari blames a lot of our real (and imagined) problems on leaving the fields to go work in the factories. I’m not doing justice to his elegant theory but the key element is that it made me think differently about modern life and more importantly about what we can control in our modern lives – and what we cannot.

So I blame James Watt who was inventing his steam engine, ironically, about the same time that Jefferson was spouting off about the pastoral life. If it weren’t for Watt maybe there wouldn’t have been an industrial evolution. Without the industrial revolution maybe we wouldn’t have become slaves to capitalism. Without capitalism most of us wouldn’t have abandoned our pleasant, agrarian lives (whistling while we work from sunrise to sunset) to take up “working for the man.” So maybe he’s the guy that led us to long commutes, endless Power Point presentations, tons of paperwork . . . and Wall Street? I guess you might as well also blame him for Facebook, Twitter or any of the other essentially worthless advances in communication technology and fact-free existence that we live in today. (Okay, settle down, some of this is tongue in cheek – I think.)

Alas, the toothpaste is out of the tube on progress though, even if you foolishly wanted to go back to when America was great, it ain’t happening. Besides, I admit that I like garage door openers, dish washers, flying to Florida for golf in the winter and a lot of other cool things; this is the world we live in, a world of constant change and progress. These ruminations have, however, made me think I may have overlooked some hidden costs for our modern reality.

When the Constitution was drafted the US had about 4 million people. Most of them were farmers or lived in small towns and were generally able to fend for themselves: no telephones, no super highways, no public education, no food inspections – no crop price supports. Also no FAA, no national parks, no huge standing military - and no strawberries in winter. Life may not have been easy but it was fairly simple and folks were mostly self-sufficient.

Today there are about 330 million of us and a large majority now live in cities (only 3% of the population grow all our food.) In order to have cheap food, live in nice houses, drive nice cars (and play golf?) life today depends on very complex interactions among people and nations. Our cars and computers come from all over the world; we shop at Target and other stores for clothes and essentials made elsewhere. Most people make a living by creating spreadsheets or work in healthcare or some other service industry.

To illustrate the change from then to now here’s a story many people of a certain age might recognize. During the Great Depression my mom lived in the small Minnesota town of Osakis while pop lived on a farm outside of town in an area called Snoose Valley (where all the Norwegians farmers lived.) Those were truly terrible times – especially for my mom’s large family. Mom’s family, like most “city slickers,” struggled to find work in town to support themselves. My dad’s large family, on the other hand, also had a difficult time but there was always milk, eggs, meat and bread; they were not going to starve. I bring this up not to imply that we should all go out and buy a few acres to support ourselves come the revolution but simply to make the point that modern life stealthily crept up and changed our relationship with nature and with each other.

Our modern society, however wonderful its fruits, often breaks down and at the worst possible time for many. This is not a bug of the system it’s a feature called “creative destruction.” In the modern world you don’t need to do anything “wrong,” you just kinda get steamrolled by “progress.” Generally most of us do okay and understandably don’t think much about how complex modern life is so most may not grasp how fragile our existence has become because of that complexity. In fact, many of us seem to live under the illusion that we still live in that earlier America -  strong, silent individuals; masters of our domain; the Marlboro Man, we don’t need no help from others or the stinking gubmint! Ah, no. In the blink of an eye any of us can lose our job, health, home – our future. Even the Marlboro man.

So here we are today.

Many Americans have a strong distrust of government including me. Some of this is by the design of our Founding Fathers and in many cases that distrust has certainly been well earned. Yet Madison, Hamilton, Mason, Rutledge, et al were all smart guys and recognized that we do need government and I’d like to think that they hoped – no, they knew - that America was bound to change and grow in ways they couldn’t even imagine. I think they also knew that government would be called on to help deal with at least some of that change. (Well, for sure Hamilton would have!)

There’s no question that government at all levels has grown enormously and it can legitimately be questioned given the many bad decisions made by our peerless leaders over the years, among but not limited to: contributing to our bloated military-healthcare-education industrial complex(es), huge welfare programs, deteriorating infrastructure and much of the income inequality in the country. You can blame big business, big political parties, big money,  unions, lobbyists, liars, schemers – and politicians (often all rolled in one), that entire group of charlatans that has turned our government into a “ Parliament of Whores” as author PJ O’Rourke so aptly named it.

I won’t pretend to know how big or how small governments should be nor do I think it  can solve every individual’s problems or pick winners and losers. I do know that there are just no other entities besides government that are big enough to counter those forces of the modern world that are seemingly trying to push many of us back into some sort of feudal existence. It can create policies that gives everyone at least a fighting chance to get ahead in a constantly changing modern world. Okay, we definitely do not need a bigger government but we absolutely do need a lot SMARTER one. If that’s true then it’s time to roll up our sleeves because WE have got a lot work to do and that starts with electing a LOT smarter people on both the left and right at all levels of government. Simply stated, we need representatives who are interested in more about the future than just getting re-elected.

I wish life was as simple as good old Tom Jefferson envisioned but it isn’t. It’s a complex and changing world that was impossible to foresee in the 18^th century. That doesn’t mean, however, it has to be as Thomas Hobbes predicted, “ . . . poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” If government can help alleviate that then it should.

If not, well, you can still blame James Watt.

The 13^th and Last (Probably) Solstice Story
Or

Early Pederson Family Solstice Celebration (Which has since been somewhat modified)
Light at the End of the Solstice Tunnel

As you know I am one of those people who enthusiastically embrace the solstice. Well, really only the winter solstice (I hate its evil summer twin.) As a Minnesotan, and noted winter-denier, I have looked forward to it as the greatest day of the year for many years. It’s the day that heralds the VERY early return of summer breezes, short nights, flip flops - and early tee times! 

To celebrate this great occasion, annually I have sponsored Solstice S’mores for the neighborhood and written humorous (I hope) paeans to the solstice for you, dear friends and relatives, to help endure the long dark night that is our winter. I can’t break with tradition totally but somehow I think I must take a little different direction this year. Now that I have taken my 70^th trip around the sun I feel that I can bring a bit more  wisdom or  gravitas to my story.                                                A happy little Solstice celebratrix 

(Or perhaps just use pretentious words like gravitas  - and pretentious? - to make it appear so.)

In the past I have made up stories about the ancient Celts and Druids prancing around a fire on the eve of the solstice within an ancient ring of stone. One year it was a story about Helios, the Greek god of the sun who got waylaid towing the sun around behind his chariot and ended up way off course at the Tropic of Capricorn (as I'm sure you know, where the sun actually ends up looming overhead on the solstice) before learning the error of his ways. And remember my great story in 2012 when the world was supposed to end on Dec. 21^st? Boy, was my face ever red when it didn't; who knew the Mayan calendar could be so far off?! Now, the more I think about the winter solstice – and why I am so enamored with it – the more I have come to think that there may be more to it than just glib anecdotes.

Neighbors' annual re-enactment of barbarians                                                    (most are not acting and alcohol may be involved)

It’s a pretty well established fact that Christianity appropriated the solstice time of the year for the Christmas celebration. I assume that it was in order to snatch a bit of the excitement that all the Germanic barbarians were having prancing around their trees. You know, sort of like a guy hopping in front of a parade to appear as its leader. Anyway, it was good move.

   

So why was there all this excitement to be snatched? The easy answer, anyway the one I have always milked for laughs, was that with the ever-increasing wintertime darkness the locals – obviously ignorant peasants – had rituals and incantations to beg old Sol to return. (Which, not coincidentally, were always successful.) Upon further review, there was much more to it.

Since the famous Stonehenge monument , dedicated to the solstice, was built roughly 5000 years ago it seems two things were certain: 1) the builders had figured out exactly when the sun was coming back a looonnnng time ago and 2) they were pretty smart guys. (Ladies were smart too but I suspect the women weren't allowed to join the builders' union back then.)  Which brings me to a larger point – for which I’m sure you’re saying, "finally!" – and that is that all the dancing and singing and incantating was really a celebration that the sun was definitely coming back and life would again be sweet. Put another way, nobody likes the dark. We humans live for the light and to me there is great comfort in the thought that we humans really haven’t changed all that much over these thousands of years. We are hopelessly optimistic creatures but not without reason as we embrace change, growth and progress. (Well, not everyone exactly but that's a different story.)

So the message I think that the solstice, and of course Christmas itself, try to express is that while there is always darkness and forces trying to drag us into the gloom, they always fail and the light prevails. And it always will so go on, enjoy the day as much as I do. 

Hey, for a noted cynic that's not too bad! 

Anyway, put on your headset and try this:

Here Comes the Sun The Beatles

You’re welcome. Now, if you will excuse me, I need go prance around a Douglas fir. Meanwhile, have a S’more - and an adult beverage - on me!    

The perfect song for the 12^th Annual Solstice Story.

Pablo Cruise Find Your Place in the Sun

Winter Solstice  2017, Dec 21st, 10:27AM

Sunrise:  7:48am  Sunset  4:34pm

Yuck, 8 cold, freaking hours and 46 stinking minutes!

Compared to:

Summer solstice sunrise: 5:26am Sunset:  9:03pm

Hot damn, 15 hrs and 37 min’s of glorious sunshine!

You know what? I’m tired of fighting this battle every year. I’m sick of rejoicing in the long, languid days of summer and then plunging into a pit of despair during the interminable, numbing short days of December. You might say that I’m sort of like a dull male dog (is “dull male” an oxymoron?) heading to the veterinarian of seasons: life is great; see the nice doctor lady, wagging tail, get a doggy treat . . . and then, well, you know, suddenly you’re wearing the head cone of winter shame. Ugh. 

So, just move to FL full time, you might say, and quit complaining about winter, you whiner!  Ah, but grasshopper, you misunderstand me. I don’t want to die of heat prostration in the summer and freeze my ass off in the winter. Also, I don’t want to pack up the dog and Mrs Dear Leader and drive  back and forth across the country like a Sun-possessed Tom Joad. No sir, in my dotage I want some kind of consistency. I want dependable days and nights, somewhere that the solstice is a non-factor!

You say, “Dear Leader, that’s just crazy talk, there has to be a solstice.” I know, I know, the sun revolves around the earth, the days get longer and then they get shorter – blah, blah, blah. (What, you thought the earth rotated around Sun? Ha! that Copernicus guy was just an early elitist, a so-called “expert” - fake news! - trust me on this.)  Anyway, I’ve got  the real news for you.

Look at this:

Summer solstice Sunrise:  6:12  Sunset:   6:19

Vernal Equinox:                6:17  Sunset:   6:24

Autumnal Equinox:           6:03  Sunset:   6:10

Winter Solstice    Sunrise: 6:08   Sunset:  6:16

Just about 12 hours of splendid sunshine ALL THE FREAKING TIME!

And all you gotta do is  . . . move to Quito, Ecuador! (Well, you could always move to Nairobi, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur too, I guess, but I’ve been to Quito and it’s only one time zone a way.)  Then there’s this: Retire to Quito, Most Beautiful City in So America. Even better, a martini is only like a buck and a half!

So there you have it, problem solved.

Okay, there is one little detail – telling Mrs Dear Leader about my plan. But I’m sure you’ll agree that she will think it’s a great idea too!

Be sure you check out this song as well - not only is it still a great tune but you get to see what 40 some years does to a guy. In my case, I can just look in a mirror (and thankfully I haven’t aged at all.) 

Pablo Cruise What You Gonna do?

PS
In next year’s epistle plan on hearing me complaining about being bored because every day is the same. . .

Jun 20^th, 4:44PM

This cannot possibly be true! Damn it, don’t tell me that it’s already the freaking summer solstice again. I don’t want to hear that we are already beginning that downward spiral to the depths of winter. Wasn’t it just a few short weeks ago that we were peering into the gloom at 4PM on a winter evening? That we were high stepping through snow and slush cursing both the darkness and the cold? And now after a few short weeks of sunshine, shorts, flip flops (and yoga pants), after this brief respite we are already heading back to that cold dystopia?

We are? I asked you not to tell me that!

I know I should be a man and just embrace the so-called theater of seasons but I can’t. Call me a liberal but I just can’t stand the injustice of it all – I’m a victim, I tell you! Life is hard enough just dealing with the aches and pains of getting old – and trying to get a good senior rate at golf courses – but the inequity of also being teased by a few days or weeks of nice weather and then dropped into the hell that is winter in Minnesota just seems . . . poopy.  

  

Okay, I will do my best to man up under this unfair burden and try to get through to the winter solstice which, of course, starts this whole unbearable cycle again. I warn you though that it will almost certainly include departing the area along with the birds, ducks, geese and other intelligent creatures. I will go where the only kind of ice anyone has heard of is that which one finds in a good martini – and not associated with the word “black.” Where sliding is associated with a boogie board on the beach and jump starting is what is done to geezers whose pace makers have seized up. I will survive.

Friends, winter is coming (for you Game of Thrones fans) so be strong.

See you Dec 21st  

Memorial Day 2017 – The Last Full Measure . . .

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 

Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

Memorial Day, is at hand, that special day in May when many of us journey to the community cemetery for services. We gather to hear speeches and prayers commemorating our loved ones and friends who had served their country so faithfully. 

Winston Churchill once famously said, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few” when talking about the Royal Air Force fighting the German Luftwaffe in WWII. This could equally be said for all those now lying beneath the flickering flags. Special tribute should be paid, however, to a small, elite group of fallen heroes: those that died in combat. While millions of us have served in the military over the years, a tiny number – far less than one percent - of our comrades have made the ultimate sacrifice in combat, allowing the rest of us to carry on with our lives. 

This reality is even more stark when put into actual numbers. In the 20^th century, and so far in the 21^st, we have lost something over 600,000 men and women in combat. The vast bulk of the deaths occurred for the “good wars,” (if there is such a thing) WWI and WWII. Then there were the so called “bad wars” – or at best, dubious wars – like Vietnam and Korea, that make up most of the rest of the deaths. That leaves the unlabeled but questionable Iraq and Afghanistan, the longest wars in our country’s history - and still going – as well as our many “police actions” around the world making up the final several thousand souls. 

Think about that: soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines roughly equal to the population of Minneapolis and St Paul bore the burden for all the deaths in combat in all our modern wars.

"I was a part of the war in Vietnam,

I went as an eager curious young man,

And came back home, jaded and weary

For I learned more that one year

Than most will ever learn in a lifetime.

I saw reality, and it was ugly,

                                         I experienced truth, and it was bitter."                                        "To a College Class" Curtis D Bennett,  Vietnam Vet and Poet  

In light of there sacrifice, the easiest thing in the world for the rest of us to do is go to a cemetery once a year, say some prayers, sing some songs and lay flowers on the graves of loved ones. The more appropriate but much more difficult thing is to understand why those loved ones repose there in the first place. Our first and most sober duty then should be to remember that they lie there because our government decided that they should fight and die for their country. No, that’s not exactly right. More correctly stated, they are there because WE, the people, decided they should fight and die for us.

It won’t make their sacrifice and loss any less painful but when put that way perhaps we can assume some small share of the burden.

Countries have asked – demanded? – that their young people fight and die for thousands of years and there’s no reason to believe it will change any time soon. For their sake, then, and for the sake of future Memorial Days, remember to choose wisely when you send your sons and daughters off to war, be sure it is a cause for which YOU would die.

                                Twenty-four hours a day they walk the line  

                                 Living up to the reputation. 

                                Assuming the swagger, the hard line,                            

                                 Their casual indifference to death.                                                                                     “Young Men” Curtis D Bennett 

The photo of me was taken circa 1973 while on a C130 gunship mission in SEA. A couple years later - okay, over 40 yrs later - a photo was taken of my son, Eric, while he was crew chiefing an HH53 Pave Low Special Ops helicopter in Iraq in 2004. Mrs Dear Leader was taken by the similarity of the pose and, well, him and me so she had this composite picture made. We are in debt to you, dear.

Rest in peace, comrades, your watch has ended.

D Roger Pederson    

Retired Military Officer     

Vietnam, and various other "police actions" vet

                            “When a Father Leaves for War” Hunter J Fowler, Son of Iraq vet and poet

There’s a little boy standing by the fence with a flag in his hand 

 He’s sad and confused; he doesn’t understand.

 He watches his daddy turn and head up on the bus. 

He watches him go and doesn’t make a fuss. 

“Why does it have to be my daddy?” he thinks to himself. 

Then he thinks back to the pictures on the shelf 

Of his daddy dressed in a suit with white cap,

But he doesn’t know why daddy’s going to Iraq.

Is Minnesota Ready to Become a Cold Florida?

So as you know, we winter – well, most of the winter and apparently not enough of it – in FL. FL is a red state; governor, and both houses of the legislature and pretty much every other government body in the state down to and including dog catchers. Oddly, it is still pretty similar to MN in that it has a LOT of relatively "blue" areas (Like here, areas where most of the people actually live – go figure.) Any hoo, the people there are kind of conflicted just as we are here. For example, the Tampa St Pete area where we stay is desperate for some sort of transit (they are well on their way to becoming a FL version of the nightmare that is Atlanta - ugh.) Everyone knows they need to do SOMETHING . . . yet apparently their aversion to “ big gubmint” solving any problems precludes them from actually proposing or voting for it – so, hey, build some more lanes! (And traffic, of course, just gets worse.)

FL is also the home of the “stand your ground” law which says that if you feel threatened you can shoot the bastard and not be arrested. While we were there, an old guy (retired cop) shot another guy in a theater because the dead guy was using his phone during the previews – cretin, that almost IS a shootin' offense! Turns out that the shooter felt threatened when Mr. AT&T got mad and knocked over the shooter’s popcorn – BANG, problem solved. In the end, the judge ruled the shooter was not covered because the current law requires that the shooter prove they were threatened and he didn’t. Republican solution: change law so that the prosecution must prove that the shooter wasn’t threatened. I kid you not. Not sure if it passed but, well, you get my point, they are very serious about their guns!

Did I mention their public school system? Virtually anyone with any means at all sends their kids to private schools because the public system is so poor. To their credit, they know it and they are trying to do something but when your teachers are terrifically underpaid and universally disrespected it's kind of difficult to turn it around. (This seems to be a common thread among a lot of red states - and some blue ones too - but I'm sure it's just a coincidence.) Any of this sound familiar? 

Now FL is a notoriously corrupt state – and I don’t mean as in Republicans. It has been corrupted and pillaged in a bipartisan way for a hundred years (read any Carl Hiassen book for a hilarious but tragic history.) Thankfully, that is very different from our Minnesota experience.  We are fortunate to live in a state that has a history of trying to do the right thing for the most people most of the time. Republicans and Democrats have battled back and forth here forever – when one starts going overboard they get thrown out and the other guys get voted in – but there was always some common parts of our experience; we are all Minnesotans with common ideas of what it means to be a Minnesotan and not afraid to do what was right for all Minnesotans: good public education, good roads and transportation, helping those most in need like the elderly, (me, me!) the disabled and those fallen on hard times. Because the parties had at least these things in common we have been an island of political civility and good governance. Some may call that liberal but I choose to call it pragmatic (of course I'm also Scandinavian and we know how THEY are!)

But something has changed and I’m beginning to get worried.

Our Republicans are starting to sound like the dummies that run FL, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and a number of others including, god help us, Kansas (check out what 5 years of extreme right wing economic experiment has done there; hasn’t been too great for Wisconsin either.) All fine states I suppose – but there’s a reason that few people will move there no matter how low their taxes are; they just aren’t great places to live. Why? At least partly because of a governmental paranoia; an intense fear that government might actually be able to solve problems that help the people - all the people - and we wouldn’t want that! These states are run by he men (and he women?) who busted sod and lifted themselves up by the boot straps and did it on their own without the damn gubmint interfering! (Okay, that last part was snark for the irony impaired.)

I have no doubt that Democrats need to take some blame - maybe a lot of blame - for this apparent lurch to the right by our Republican friends.  As with the national party, Minnesota's has become arrogant and elitist to an extreme as well. Overbearing political correctness and blatantly ignoring the needs of people who are a natural constituency is seldom a good political strategy. And it wasn't.  

Nonetheless, from transit to the DNR, from health care to education and from protecting hard won rights of minorities and others to the environment, the  Republicans are drifting dangerously close to making us a poor, sad, cold version of Arkansas or many of the other red states that are getting to live the latest great Republican dream of an America . . .  in the 1950’s.  I do not doubt their sincerity, I simply think they are misguided.

The history of America, of humans in general, is progress. Duh, otherwise we’d still be living in caves and driving cool cars with stones wheels! There is certainly room for differences in how to manage or embrace the changes that progress brings – as there should be – but as Thomas Wolfe said 8o years ago, “You can’t go home again.” The past is gone and the future is coming and it could not care less about our political beliefs and petty human squabbles.

Please talk to your representatives, both Republican and Democrat, and tell them that we can’t go home, we have to go forward – because that’s where we are going rather we want to or not.