Why do I demand to write, why is it not an obsession, but much more, respiration for my soul, it’s blood racing through my arteries,
Certainly my parents played a part in my writing, especially my political predilections,
I voted for Carter in 1976, but somehow Reagan in 1980, after some thought and eight months before a job arrived, I was convinced that I was indeed liberal, the conservative clothes seemed ill-fitting, they only looked more so in the following years,
For many years I worked in government, often working very hard, land survey in North Dakota winters, working around opening sinkholes from abandoned coal mine reclamation, overtime in Mississippi - January through March designing dams,
The propaganda of the anti-government voices came through loud and clear, and its value of only uselessness rang though even louder, it was way off base, yet widely believed.
While in my work, the anti-government sentiment was often harsh and seemingly always irrational, one knew their ideas of us were very wrong, this was accepted, we had a job to do,
Sometimes the landowner despised what we were doing, even while providing generous funding, one rancher showed off his gun to me, he was known as a radical, yet we worked with him the best we could,
In the field with the contrarians it was painful, but we only tried to do a job to standards, to specifications, so it would withstand nature’s fury, it was taxpayer’s dollars on the line,
So this is the backbone of much of my writing, and the anti-government forces still provoke me, yet one can only approach it all rationally, and try to teach, and hold back the frustration.
Today I heard an author explain that the strategy of linking freedom to the free market, and disparaging government which was funded throughout much of the last century, government was not freedom, corporations were, they pounded away at us,
And the propaganda worked, it lingers on until this day, hometown acquaintances still bite on it, this same old fishing lure, they can’t get past it,
This author with ties to Harvard, explained it well today on a podcast I listened to,
They infiltrated Hollywood, Ayn Rand then a scriptwriter, promoted pro-capitalism with no restrictions, and warned of government evil,
It really is quite insidious, this approach from these titans, and all to guarantee more wealth, more power, to the chosen ones, the wealthy must remain wealthy,
So I’m even more charged after hearing such American deceit at play,
I will continue to write with my voice, although it may be in the wilderness and not heard by many,
It’s time to accept the ideas of true democracy, and the one person, the one vote, the government is us after all, to hate it is to hate ourselves, and it’s difficult to improve it if it is only a satan to the skeptic,
And this minuscule finger tapping out letters on my phone is the freedom of speech to which to make my case,
This, they wish to take away my writing, more so the more influential writers, this is well known, I don’t intend to stop,
I hope more join in.
END
17th post, February 27, 2023