Art Hyland

I always thought the Totems was a rather odd choice. I recall Bill Knell joking why we didn't just go with the Sammamish Trees.  However I can't believe anyone would consider the name Totems as appropriating. For me the traditions of sports team names is perfectly fine. Political correctness has us mentally producing an imaginery iphone colored spinning wheel while we check whether we might offend someone. A dinner table joke with friends can now take minutes for some to decide if they're supposed to laugh or not.  Humor has been almost fully cancelled these days and our nation is at risk of never laughing with each other. As my hugely offensive Marine drill sergeant used to repeat at 110 decibles to us 22 yr old Naval officer candidates, "...this fg sht's gonna stop rt gd now!"  And so those who took his tirades and creative name calling serious didn't last long and I suppose gravitated to become today's serial censors.

Eric (Rick) Moon

"First Nations" is certainly a more apt expression than "Native American" (which just means you were born here, which I was and most of you were) or "Indigenous People" (the only continent where humans are indigenous is Africa - everybody's ancestors in the Americas came from somewhere else).  According to Craig Johnson, the author of the "Longmire" series, members of the Northern Cheyenne and Crow nations, with whom he is intimately familiar, are OK with "Indian" and think "Native American" is just silly.

I hope I live long enough to see the end of the double standard where white people are singled out and excoriated for doing the exact same things that all peoples do and have always done.

Deborah Wallick (Quimby)

Hi--we at Long Beach are inundated with huge crowds, no one is wearing a mask, this is Sandsations this weekend with everyone making some creature or doing a team effort.

Some research I found interesting. Issaquah was known as the Indians and their yearbooks were the Sammamish. Strange we used some of the same names, were located so close together. Didn't any one do any checking? And we are giving up Totems while Issaquah continues as Indians with a Sammamish high school annual.

Stephen Nicol

I don't know when the change took place but Issaguah is no longer the Indians. Issaquah has three high schools, The Issaquah Eagles, the Skyling Trojans (at least the emblem on the website is a Trojan helmet), the Liberty patriots. They also have a specialty high school ( alternative or stem or other) whose logo is an evergreen tree. 

The movement to not offend people is a long cherished part of our history. We have come a long way from where we were 225 years ago.  We, also, still have far to go.  Not sure if it is possible to live without offending someone, but we can strive not to do so intentionally.

Danny Braudrick

Eric (Rick) Moon

Danny,

I believe that our civilization will muddle its way through as it usually does.  I am MORE concerned about you, my friend and classmate.  I hope you are not spending too large a proportion of your time wallowing in doom and gloom - I don't think that's good for you.

They say that what you see depends on where you choose to stand.  Are the rows in a vineyard diagonal or orthogonal?  Depends on where you choose to stand.

I urge you to spend at least part of your time standing where you can see the trends that are good, as renewal and rebirth take place.  A phoenix will rise from the ashes, and beautiful flowers from the rot.

Paul Shelton

Many books cover the historical demise of past “empires”. We learn that most do not vanish overnight, but linger for decades or even a century or more before it becomes painfully evident that their glory days are over, or, with some coup de main, taking advantage of weakness, a new power finally ends the dream. Danny has distilled a list of concerns that no one should deny are trending toward a diminished influence and a draining of power to prevent world events from overtaking us. We should heed these warning signs, even though no one can know with any certainty where they will lead.

It is clear that “doom” does in fact happen, and that there is nothing we can lean upon to assure it won’t happen to us. We are presently enduring a period showing decidedly what possible negative futures might look like. To conclude that we will “muddle” through, as we always have (if even that is true), and should not sound any alarm to awaken false fears, is either a voice of age-seasoned wisdom, or of insouciant ignorance. 

I think we have lived long enough that we can spot false fears and reasonably qualify them as overreaction, premature, or not appropriate for the evidence. But the other side of that coin is not to be cavalierly dismissed. We are not so blind to miss ominous developments that portend no good. In today’s world, we face threats from many directions. Internally our culture of peace is dissolving; environmentally, our earth, and all life on it, is being smothered, and in the experiment to create a civil union of humanity, we are descending closer and closer to chaos. 

It is no longer a euphemism that we are destroying our planet, or should we say, our planet’s ability to sustain life. The planet could give a rip, to be sure, and maybe the cockroaches are dancing, but we are surely not acting in our best interest – a big part of that being seeing to it that the life we evolved with comes with us into a an improved and sustainable future.

Whether we are right or wrong about the details may not really be relevant, but rather how our species has become, over decades, more anxious, more insecure, and more afraid of our future. We cannot pass off good predictive work as that of biased and self-serving academics. Models of our future are almost universally not pretty, and if we weren’t naturally optimistic, we can still be forgiven for feeling an underlying dread – if not for our own short remaining lives, but for our progeny. No, the end of the world is not nigh, and the second coming is an absurdity. But the end of democracy is not an exaggerated concern; our inability to govern ourselves is no passing happenstance; starvation of millions, or is that billions, in a foreseeable future, is not a trivial concern, the crush of migration attending the tipping point of a massive global overpopulation is not a frivolous concern. The utter breakdown of civil norms is well underway, and truth is being challenged as a valued commodity as never before. In the age of knowledge, ignorance not only still exists, but thrives. An informed person of today is leagues ahead of an informed person of 500 years ago – but those who do not read today are little ahead, in the knowledge that matters, of the average person of 500 years ago. Where superior understanding of human intellectual weakness should gird us against our own mental failings, we still witness the most painful ignorance and mental incapacity to think beyond our most destructive or witless emotions. 

I have tried throughout my life to avoid false fears, by studying the evidence, such as I could. I have tried to direct my attention to the big picture to avoid the natural perturbations of human economies and affairs of living. If we bury ourselves in daily minutia, the ups and downs of the market, the trends of fashion, or some fluctuation within the range of noise, we won’t see those trends and migrations of thought and attitude that warn of ominous change. Nobody has a crystal ball, but we sure can do better than to take our eye off the ball when the pitching is getting wild. And about now in our world, it’s a hell of a lot wilder than we have ever seen it. Even our grandparents, passing from horses to airplanes and beyond, did not have the kind of existential problems we observe today. The upshot for me is that I, like Danny, see our nation in a slow nose dive, a fixable one, hopefully, but maybe not. I see tipping points everywhere, from climate to resources, from disease to extinctions, from democracy to fascism. Our nation is not confronting causes, but only haltingly addressing symptoms. We are trapped in a list of psychoses; taboos against truth are everywhere, motivations of fear are tangled up with motivations of personal defense and escape. The larger interests of we, the people, are hostage to vengeful and dysfunctional politics. Instead, mass delusion sweeps the land, and a new age of authoritarians seek to capture permanent power. This seems to be their moment, and we mostly stand by watching it as entertainment, like a parade telling the story of our own demise in riddles and lies. Yes, in short, I am worried, and to “muddle” in such a time, confident that some natural course of American genius and character will find a way forward to flowers and an even sunnier future, is not, in my opinion, wise analysis. 

The obvious question is what we, as individuals, do about it. We already know our collective efforts have left us to drift far too close to the rocks. There is wisdom in maintaining faith in the potential success of small movements that each of us can join or support. Disassociation, or the purposeful ignoring of those “far off” events in state and national capitols is the worst of all potential social diseases. The power of destructive forces benefits most from people who stand by and do nothing. So, it is imperative to stay involved. Tune your antennas to the nefarious machinations of power. Trying this or that social fix is always correctable, and not an existential concern. However, a loss of the power of the people is most often fatal. 

We are confronted today with not only questions of social and economic policy, but with an undercurrent of mistrust, lies, and misinformation that has effectively split America into two nations. We have to understand that public opinion today may be driven and generated by deeper strategies of those seeking permanent power. If you wanted to defeat an enemy, and your only possibility to win was by using modern knowledge of crowd and opinion control, with the sophisticated technology of the age, you would set out to paint a false picture of your enemy that was fully worthy to hate, then deceive the people by creating a false reality that they should fear. Control and manage information to your base. Your own drive for power would be extremely well camouflaged. And voila, you have a divided nation. We are left with only 3 outcomes (choices): Split into two countries, go to war with one side defeating the other, or rid our discourse of lies and taboos, and create an agreeable path forward that all can support. Obviously, the third option is preferable. The first two are actually impossible constructs, in the first place. Well -- there is a fourth option. Drift on in ignorance and stupidity until America is a superficial shell of its once great promise, which then disintegrates into historical dust. By then, it may not matter, as the planet will come along for the ride, imploding into a new dark age. Yes, it can happen -- and perspicacious minds will see it coming. And, of course, will be ignored.

Both sides are hugely disadvantaged by the perennial elephant in the room, that being money and its power to corrupt and buy anything, if it wishes. We must, together, overcome this strangling influence by following some common thread of justice. The problem of course, is that money acts as a third, and independent player, defending its own hegemony, with, what else – money. And that money is seen as the lifeline to power by the political players, who may wish to be rid of its influence, but are trapped on a treadmill with no mutually acceptable way to stop the machine. We need “dismoneyment” talks as much as disarmament talks.

There are, polls show us, still a considerable list of “improvements” to our lives that both right and left agree on. So there is a solid base on which to find common ground -- if we can clear the brush blocking the path. As it stands now, a vengeful gridlock blocks any good idea if it has the stamp of a Party on it – even if both Parties agree with the bulk of the proposal.

Unfortunately, the problems seem to proliferate and always ratchet up. This is no prescription for political or social rapprochement, and that is one more reason we are justified to be concerned about America’s survival.

Eric (Rick) Moon

Thanks to Paul for his usual deeply thoughtful response, from this insouciant ignorant classmate.

If I may defend my post, let me begin by saying that I am as souciant as it is possible to be.  My words to Danny were not intended to suggest that humanity does not have challenges to face, but to suggest that, first of all, we should not be concerned about the fall of the American "Empire" - that is something we should applaud, and we are better off drawing back from our military interventions abroad and our attempts at nation-building in our own image.  The good thing about America that we should be concerned about losing is not our empire, but our commitment to the rights to life, liberty and property as organizing principles of society.  And there is nothing wrong with - I would say there is everything right with - spending the majority of our time savoring the experiences of our own lives and reliving treasured memories.  If we cannot do that, what is the point of any of it?

Second, we need to realize and acknowledge that many of our fears about the future are exaggerated.  Professional alarmists whip up fear and outrage with the goal of seeking our support in getting themselves into positions of influence and authority, and they pinky-swear to use their power over us only for good.  The press and the political sphere are full of stories about looming catastrophes and crises, about things that are more soberly seen as problems calling, not for solutions, but for tradeoffs.  Every blip and every cyclical change is portrayed as a trend.  Statistics are intentionally misinterpreted.  The worse the "news" is, the more likely it is to make the cut as news, and the more likely it is that it will provoke calls to "do something".

Finally, I think we need to drop the preposterous notion that the way forward is through directed collective action.  We need to acknowledge that control is but an illusion.  We can try to impose all the prohibitions and requirements on each other we can imagine, but to think this means we can thereby achieve control over the unfolding future is absurd.  We as individuals are cells in an evolved and evolving complex superorganism with a life of its own, called humanity, and attempts to saddle this superorganism and control it with reins and spurs are delusional and cannot possibly succeed.  If we are truly serious about leaving a better world to our progeny, we need to think of ourselves more modestly as cultivators of what evolves, and not as designers and constructors of ideal systems that will supplant evolved reality.

By the way, I invite you all to listen to my new podcast, now available on Buzzsprout and soon to be listed on Apple and Google and other platforms, called "Fascinating!"  Spread the word if you think it has value.

Laura Fletcher (Lindsay)

I'm always fascinated by this dialogue. Thanks to all of you for your stimulating comments. My birthday was last month, and I'm reminded that all the knowledge and talents I gained during my career, are beginning to fade as age becomes a factor--bad knee and the challenges of life itself. We have five children and ten grandchildren, brothers and sisters who keep us busy with exciting life moments and a variety of health issues including a brain aneurysm, diabetes, heart attacks and more, making our daily lives a continual progress. Fortunately, we have all had Covid shots--I have my booster, and we have been following the guidelines, so none of our crew has contracted this horrific disease. We do know folks who have, however, including a state senator who died and with whom I attended college. 

But I digress from the intriguing dialogue of Danny et al.  Recently, I competed Robert Harris's books about Cicero: Imperium, Comspirator and Dictator. As a graduate student I had studied Aristotle. Plato and Cicero; consequently, I was intrigued by the reviews of Harris's latest book and decided to take on the challenge of all three works. Harris uses Cicero's slave, who invented short-hand by the way, to tell the story of Cicero which takes one through the fall of the Roman republic and the rise and fall of Caesar. You may already have gathered that the book has echos of the issues covered in Danny, Paul and Eric's dialogue. In my opinion, all three books are extremely well-written, and I had difficulty putting them down. I highly recommend them  

The books also demonstrate the points made by Paul on how masses of people are manipulated--ethos, logos. pathos, the greatest of which is pathos. The examples of amping up mobs and telling them what they want to hear, true or not and by whatever mechanism, happened then and is rampant now. The driving forces of Avarice or greed, the thirst for extreme power and the failure of the elected representatives to confront them toppled a republic and then an empire. I tend to think some of our more villainous figures like Hitler must have studied Caesar.

Best,

Laura

Paul Shelton

I have started many pieces on immigration that were never submitted to our journal. This is one more try. I will begin with a diversion on population and a political comment.

Looking ahead at the 2022 election, and even beyond, I see a danger for the Left that, if unaddressed, will likely be the prime reason for political defeat, should that be the case. I am referring to a strain of what I call “compassionate suicide” in the politically correct Left that blinds its adherents from contemplating the wrenchingly difficult problem our country, and the world, must face surrounding the movement of people around the globe. This stance of the Left is puzzling, because our environmental focus should give us ample reason to call for a lower population, but it seems that if the Right calls for it, the Left has to excoriate them and take an opposite position. Knowing this is a primary issue of the Right, the Left is squandering a perfect opportunity to establish a “bridge issue” to the Right, by embracing many similar positions, but for environmental reasons and not racist ones. Not doing this could cost them the election. As it stands today, the Right gains huge traction by characterizing the position of the Left as one of “Open Borders”, writ large. When Biden and others disavow this notion, they do so as meekly as possible so as to avoid any further discussion about REAL immigration issues (see below). Nothing changes, and the Left refuses to save their own backsides by finally embracing immigration like it really matters – which it does.

In only a few short years, the world will top eight billion humans, marching inexorably toward nine billion. It staggers me that both the public and many professional observants are still driven by a short list of myths: 

1. Overpopulation is completely relative. We are fully capable of feeding everyone if we only use the technologies and strategies we have at our fingertips, and overcome the greed and inefficiencies related to worldwide food distribution and waste. Growth may not be infinite, but we are so far from any limit that it is being Chicken Little to worry one iota about it.

2. There is a natural dynamic which will automatically stabilize population growth as soon as everyone enjoys a secure existence similar to our western expectations. We need only continue to build a more prosperous world and then be sure to “share it around”. In short, we needn’t bother to worry about continued population growth. It will take care of itself.

3. Concerns around resource shortages are nothing more than scare tactics. We can always find substitutes. 

4. Human ingenuity and our advanced technologies will always be there to solve our problems.

5. Any talk of controlling our fecundity, either by law or by persuasion, is immoral. No government or social movement has any right even suggesting we control the number of children we have. 

6. Why now, let’s be honest, should we care if a lot of creatures go extinct? It’s natural, and has happened many times in the history of life on earth. And geez, after all, we are the dominate species and can do what we want. And, let’s face it, we are God’s favored species.

7. Closer to home, America has always been the Life Boat for the needy of the planet. This is our destiny, and we need to open our borders to all who hunger for a better life. After all, we are a nation of immigrants (an irrelevancy, if there ever was one!)

8. The world can easily support at least eight billion people. Heck, we’re doing it now! What’s the problem?

9. We need more people to provide workers, and consumers, for burgeoning industries, and to pay for our old folks retirement.

There are probably a handful more, but you can add them. In any case, the range of acceptable population numbers, across the spectrum of opinions, is so wide that it is obvious, if nothing else, that we humans are either putting our heads in the sand, or are, by and large, stone ignorant of all the data and research that tell us we are, balanced against the earth’s power to regenerate life support systems, overpopulated globally by at least a factor of four, and in America, by at least double.

OK, that’s the background; now finally to immigration. The earth’s, and our nation’s population, portend one ominous possibility (this is not to mention the planet’s sixth great extinction – at human hands): An overrunning of the planet by a diaspora of desperate people like we can hardly imagine. This very possible scenario demands that we address our laws controlling and managing our population to ensure we can survive biologically, economically, and culturally through very trying times predicted by many models to be happening within the current century. This means revisiting ALL our immigration laws and enforcement abilities while the window is still open. Unfortunately, the Left is AWOL on this subject, not because its thinkers aren’t aware, but because it is being held in thrall by a PC faction that refuses to accept that we are, NO LONGER, Life Boat America, and must learn to make hard choices that, quite literally, determine who lives and who dies.

Voices on the Left have worn out the statement that “We are for comprehensive immigration reform. We need DACA and a path to citizenship for immigrants without documentation”. Never, that is NEVER, do we hear any mention about REAL immigration law. First, immigration law is comprised of Quota law and Border Management law. Quota law deals with the number and qualifications of new entrants. This encompasses, under present law, the Visa Lottery, Chain Migration (Family Reunification), Birth Right Citizenship, Asylum law, and special cases, including marital, diplomatic, labor rights, Green Card purchases, and other similar cases. Border Management deals with two aspects of immigration law: Visas, and enforcement. You would think Democrats in office have a secret directive never to mention any of these issues. The phrase Visa Lottery, for example, is never spoken, in any context when immigration reform is on the table. As for DACA, they are forbidden from acknowledging that this legislation is NOT immigration reform, in the first place. It is, quite obviously, an attempt to solve a legal and moral quagmire, existing only because current immigration law and its enforcement were inadequate or lacking.

The fact is, immigration law is one of the most critical blocks of our nation’s laws going forward. We must come to grips with the simple fact that we are full, even overflowing, with humanity. Our resources – environmental, biological, and economic are stretched to the breaking point. Our lot, as caretakers of this land we call home, is to preserve its viability as a long-term provider of a secure and quality life for all creatures, human and non-human. To start with, the message must become salient that our environment is our primary concern. Economics must take care of itself. Blindly crowding our dwindling open spaces with more humans is crushingly short-sighted and destructive.

So, what is to be done? (That question has been the title of numerous books; I’m thinking first off of Lenin’s short prescription in his book leading to the Russian Revolution. No suspense here: he was wrong.) The first thing is to open discussion. Democrats have to take stands on all of immigration law. Of course, I would hope that having to debate numbers on a national stage would knock some sense into their heads, and they wouldn’t just call for something as insane as “open borders”. I would bet what I could afford to lose that “body Left” would surprise Dems in power and come out 4-square for a stabilization and then reduction of our numbers, both at home and globally. Is there anyone we know of any political stripe clamoring for more people to make our lives even richer than we already experience? 

As for compassion, it’s high time the Dems gave a little love to our own people and ecosystems. We no longer have the luxury of making simple choices. We must, there is no question, focus on doing all we can to help the downtrodden and desperate. But the sad truth is – we can’t save everyone. This is where great changes must be considered in our foreign policy – geared to help people where they live, and, we shouldn’t forget, champion the availability of family planning, contraception, and abortion services worldwide. This last is another subject, to be sure, but still tied at the hip to any global effort to stabilize or lower population.

As for my own personal prescriptions, I would lower quotas, end birth-right citizenship, end the Visa Lottery, expand E-Verify, end chain migration beyond immediate families and aging or non-working grandparents, reform asylum law to end automatic entry before hearings, enlist all of law enforcement to find and apprehend visa overstays, forbid so-called sanctuary cities as violators of federal law, pass DACA, provide a hearing for all UR’s (defined below), allowing as many as humanely appropriate to remain and receive green cards – the rest deported with a survival stipend, establish a national non-forgeable, fingerprint embedded ID card as proof of citizenship, require all short stay visas (tourist, work, diplomatic) to require medical and flight insurance, and reform systems for ensuring visa exits.

In short, we need to legitimately control our borders, legally and humanely. Irrespective of the numbers, at the least we need to reform our laws so they are humanely enforceable, and allow us to manage numbers and qualifications without loopholes and rampant fraud. 

A last comment on immigration: I have been waging a losing battle for years, as I try to, as I see it, straighten out our language in one important area. I believe that an immigrant should be defined as someone of foreign birth who is legally accepted for permanent residency within a different sovereign border. My wife is an immigrant. She is also a naturalized citizen, as are millions of other immigrants. I am what is called a “third generation immigrant”, meaning that my grandparents were immigrants from a foreign land (and American citizens). By contrast, a tourist on a three month visa, for example, is a short-term resident in America. They are, while here, a documented alien, or, if your Left wind PC compels it, a documented resident. In any case, they are not immigrants. If someone sneaks over the border, they are, just like someone overstaying a visa, an undocumented resident. By my lights, they remain such no matter how long they are illegally residing within the US. I argue that anyone without “papers” should be termed a UR, or undocumented resident. This classification does not concern itself with any legal judgment, but merely lets us know they are residing in the US without any legalizing documentation.

Somewhere in the last 50 years, someone trying to ascribe citizenship rights to a UR in a legal battle, decided to call them “immigrants”, and the term stuck. Now we are expected to grant a new level of legitimacy to an individual who is residing in America illegally. It completely obfuscates the issue. Today, the Left screams that ICE is targeting immigrants. No, they are lot at all. They are targeting UR’s, and only UR’s. My wife has nothing to fear, but from the language, you would hardly know it. And when a tourist overstays a 3-month visa by so much as one day, this person now becomes an “immigrant”. With this kind of deceptive language, it is near impossible to have a sensible debate about what to do with UR’s, when we are calling all of them immigrants. If we call them illegal immigrants, then we imply my wife must attest that she is not just an immigrant, but a legal one, to be sure. Therefore, I call for all official statements on immigration, where it comes up, to refer to those individuals here without documentation as UR’s. Then we can finally have a discussion without confusion.

Returning to the myths at the beginning of my piece, they need to be exposed so we can see with clear glasses that population does matter, is not only important, but critical to the future of life on earth. This has been my primary area of activism since the 1970’s and it won’t be long before the chickens come home to roost. I tell my wife I only have one regret related to dying: I won’t be around to see how this mess we humans have created will run its course. I hope we discover, and apply, our intellect before collapse overtakes us, but, honestly, I’m not too optimistic that we will. Our lizard and animal brains will, in the end, triumph over our vaunted cerebrum.

Please forgive any typos, and I apologize that I have now inspired in some of you an “obligation” to refute or question some “nonsense” you think I wrote – when you would rather just kick back and read Moby Dick. But, HOORAY, I just sent a piece on immigration. Now that’s off my chest and I can finally kick back and read Moby Dick.

Pleasant dreams --

Eric (Rick) Moon

Thank you Paul, for giving me more ideas for my podcast.  Your ingenuity at weaving this fanciful web in pursuit of justifying ever more extensive interventions by deus ex machina institutions of government is nothing short of awe-inspiring.  I loved the touch where you applied the term "myth" to the list of propositions, most of which actually make sense if properly understood.

And thank you Laura for your recommendations.  I will certainly have a look.  I still have a fascintion with the study of history, beginning with Mr. Distad's world history course and then completing three years of undergraduate work in history at UW before changing my major to economics.  The perspectives and insights which you hint at sound intriguing, and I for one would welcome some elaboration by you about what you found to be valuable.

Paul Shelton

Well, Rick. I did leave an out for you. Your voice might turn out to be the “voice of age-seasoned wisdom”. Let’s try to live long enough to get an inkling of who is more prescient. My list regarding population is either fanciful or informed; I believe it is informed – as I did not come to these conclusions without extensive efforts to validate my thoughts. I come to this debate as a naturalist; you seem to come to it as an “economist”, believing that the natural world mirrors the economic world and vice versa. At the level of a predator, you may be right, depending on how we define the “economics” of lions, or the economics of living cells, for example. But my take is that any dependence on the so-called “laws” of economics (which I have also studied at some length) is often the antithesis of the laws, including those governing economic behavior, that are required for humanity to exist in any semblance of civility, peace, and equity. Civilization is a human created construct that we struggle to maintain. If any conclusion is fanciful, I would say laissez faire economics fills the definition nicely. I would argue human history bears this out. The end game of unmanaged human enterprise is warring emperors sending millions of serfs into battles of conquest. 

You advised Danny to “chill out”, suggesting (rather strongly) that he should not be worrying himself about signs portending the decline of the American civilization. I would suggest that possibly your fear of  “ever more extensive interventions by deus ex machina institutions of government, may truly be fanciful. First, government is that institution that manages civilizations, and the citizenry have every right to look to government to structure our civilization in ways that work best for human happiness and survival. Some things may work and some not, but until we arrive at some level of mutual contentment, I see no reason to attack ideas as some deus ex machina force hell bent on some demiurgic mission. Why do we need to invoke some supernatural unmotivated reasoning in this discussion, anyway. Or are you referring to an attempt by government to play God? Is that what government is doing? Why shouldn’t we believe that some people are just trying to makes things better for all our citizens? 

For that matter, the Christian evangelical Right and the Catholic hierarchy are, for all purposes, trying to do precisely that. They want to force women into bodily subserviency to satisfy their God. Talk about Deus ex Machina shit!! (sorry for the vulgarity, but my scan of all other possible words didn’t make the point quite so well.)

Regarding overpopulation, it is sad, I feel, that we still have to make this point. When one needs a permit to go hiking in a remote mountain range, or a license to fish or hunt species that literally swarmed our waters, range lands, and forests in centuries past, isn’t this alone enough to blame our wanton decimation of nature on too many people?  And global warming? Isn’t it obvious that we, the people of the planet, have created this? Is there still not enough evidence to make the case? 

Back to your post of 10/3, Rick. OK, let’s back up and clear this word “Empire” out of the discussion, as it may or may not be appropriate in today’s political realities. It we define our global involvement as “unproductive”, I would agree completely. And so-called “nation-building” (in our own image) is also good to be rid of. I think both Danny and I were, like you, focused on the potential loss of “our commitment to the rights to life, liberty and property as organizing principles of society”. In short, losing our democracy is the concern, i.e. the power of the people through the vote, and with it the power to maintain those bulwarks that guarantee our most cherished and necessary values and systems. 

We need to rebuild what we stand for and re-dedicate our nation to building our own model of a prosperous, equitable, and educated people. Our greatest strength is gained by being an example to the world of a successful civilization. Military power is overrated in my opinion. I don’t know where the line on “military preparedness” should be drawn, but it has to come way down in terms of the budget we allocate to it, versus what we allocate to strengthen our own society.

We are all aware of professional alarmists. The greatest number by far come out of the religious and economic woodwork. The world is going to end; the economy will utterly collapse next year as China calls its debt. The nation will be destroyed in an orgy of socialism if Democrats are elected. We’ve heard just about all of it. But the alarmism of researchers who have spent their entire lives gathering solid data that can be projected forward is not the same thing. We should take heed. But instead, we belittle their findings and “represented money” does all in its power to lie the findings away. So, those of us who have been projecting levels of “doom” for decades, are seeing our projections born out. Global warming has been on the “warning list” since the 19th century. Since the 1960’s, projections have largely been tracking with reality. But we still ignore the danger, and attempt to lump anyone predicting a “bad day” as just another alarmist. If you look at the evidence, and assure yourself the evidence is valid and strong, you cannot be faulted for sounding an alarm. You would be negligent not to. 

Well, Rick, I grant that I think our consciousness is but an illusion. I think our vaunted “free will” is an illusion. And I think religion, in all its forms, is a psychological phenomenon – and a massive delusion afflicting billions. – But I can’t accept that “control is but an illusion”. Maybe looked at as an extension of not truly having free will, you are right. We are powerless. But we only need to consider that men “chose” to create the American nation as a constitutional democracy to confirm that human directions are a question of the choices of both the few and the many. Again, you characterize the organization of society as an “imposition of prohibitions and requirements”, and then to do so achieves nothing. The first order of law is to “control and require”. But we don’t think of the law, justly created and enforced, as some level of oppression. Of course, events have a way of foiling the best plans, but we must believe that our efforts to create a better society by modifications to its structure can be successful. There are many examples of proactive initiatives by countries and societies that have proven invaluable when negative forces have been confronted in a future time. There are foolish ideas and smart ideas that hope to improve life. We have to choose the smart ones, and we will be better off for it.

Your paragraph about humanity being a complex superorganism which cannot be controlled “with reins and spurs” is either as profound as creation or a brilliant sophism. I can’t really decide which. Yes, life and its evolution is exceedingly complex as are human societies. But like evolution itself, mutations are random and numerous, and quite uncontrollable. But natural selection is not random at all. It picks and chooses successful mutations that enhance survivability. It does this in the most complex of all organisms – life itself. So why is it true that we can’t follow the rules of natural selection and keep looking for improvements to the organism we call society? 

The notion is also inherent in your statement that societies uncontrollably and irrevocably evolve and there is not a thing we can do about it, either before the evolutionary development or after it comes to pass. All we can do is “ride the bull” and find ways to stay atop. But we are powerless to ever imagine we could have prevented or blunted an “evolved” outcome or modify it after the fact. I still hold out hope that we can find better ways to do things and even create, or at least greatly influence, our own evolved reality. 

If you’re looking for an example of trying to change an “evolved” reality, we could find one in the Soviet model, in which a conviction that human nature itself could be reshaped lead to utter failure and the death of millions. I could not agree more that human nature is one “evolved reality” we must live with and work around, still controlling its worst impulses while taking full advantage of its great abilities and promise.

And Rick, good luck with your podcast.

Eric (Rick) Moon

Thanx for the kind words Paul.  If you're ever in the Asheville area please look me up - we can do an interview!

Live long and prosper.

Eric (Rick) Moon

My podcast, "Fascinating!", has now finally been published on Apple Podcasts.  You can also find it on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Prime Music, and others.

Eric (Rick) Moon

Sad news - classmate Carol McCourt passed away on November 2, according to an obituary my younger brother saw.  Carol was the assistant editor on the yearbook staff - that's how I knew her.  I was also friends with her brother JIm, class of 1962.  Survived by a son and a daughter and several grandchildren.  Sounds like she had a full and satisfying life, even though gone too soon.

Marcia Micheau (Green)

David Sanders

Happy Birthday!!

Jay Congrats, we have traveled some similar paths Chemistry at Sammamish, sports -high hurdles, pole vault, Air Force Nakhom Phanom, TET Offensive Graduate U/W, married to Marsha and loving son "Scot". Do you remember Angus McDonald??
Via con dious Dave Snders

Danny Braudrick

I remember Angus well. I wish I knew where he is now. 

Edgar Hart

Last I heard Angus was a pastor in Georgia 

Stephen Nicol

After a returned christmas card and letter, I googled the obituary of Jim Morgan, teacher for many of us, and found that Jim passed away June 24, 2021.  It was less than a year after his wife of 65 years Rose passed. We pray that his family will receive comfort in the fact that their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather will be remembered so fondly by so many.

Edgar Hart

He was a good teacher. Are there any plans for a 60th? It could be a low key gathering.

Danny Braudrick

As a child and throughout my life I have been honored to bleed red, white and blue. In 1968, I was drafted (PV1), US Army. I fought in two wars, served nearly 24 years. I was proud to be an American. Now I am not sure. Today, at least 19 children and three adults (at least two of which were a teacher) were killed by a young man with an assault weapon, handgun, etc. Last week ten died at a super market in Buffalo by a white nationalist with an assault weapon and there was an armed assault on a church in California. These are not lone occurrences. They all involve guns, most usually AR15 type assault rifles. And most damning? These deaths could all have been avoided!

Today, I came to realize that those people trying to enter through our southern borders must not be coming because America is so good. They are coming because their home countries are so bad. And bad enough to put themselves and their children at such risk to live in America.

We are the only nation in the world dead set on killing its grocery shoppers, children in schools and worshippers in churches. These used to be safe places. We used to think when our kids were at school, they were safe. Not any more. Not my grandkids. Not yours, either.

Why are we not safe? This country does not have the political wherewithal to elect congressmen/women who will enact common sense laws to protect us from evil people afforded the ease with which to obtain the weapons to mass murder us. Common sense works in other parts of American life. Why do we punish people driving drunk? Many of us like to drink but we need to be protected from those who put us in danger. Brewers and distillers don’t oppose this. We have laws to ensure cars are safe to operate. Who disagrees. Not the car manufacturers. 

We continue to elect US congressmen/women and state legislators who follow the money, the big campaign money to ensure continued paydays, big money to remain in office. And the real big money comes from gun manufactures and the NRA. These organizations’ interest is not public safety. It is power and profits. They will adamantly oppose any common sense legislation that would make us safer if power and money were to be reduced. They will continue to denigrate common sense laws that will keep guns out of the hands of felons, the mentally ill and immature.

Common sense must question who needs an assault weapon? These are weapons of war, made to kill, designed to maximize damage to the human body, so powerful a round can go through your home’s walls, your neighbor’s home’s walls and kill someone in the next house over. Good for deer hunting? A 5.56mm round from an AR15, upon entering a deer’s flank, will rip the meat to shreds.

The gun manufacture lobbyists and NRA oppose any common sense laws which could financially damage their profits and are supported in large numbers by their reactionary constituents. I am not sure America has the will to do the right thing. Many rejected the fact that Russia infected our 2016 presidential election even after all 17 of our national intelligence agencies confirmed it. Our past president withheld military assistance to an ally to enhance his own political objectives. We had an assault on our Capitol promulgated by the president. We have fake electors named We have 147 congressmen/women unwilling to approve the November 2020 presidential election results. And despite over 60 baseless court filings, trust in the validity of our elections is seriously damaged. 

I only bring this up to demonstrate that when there is disbelief by so many of the obvious, why should we expect anything be done to exact obvious common sense firearms legislation?

In the meantime, the carnage will continue.

Reflecting back on my opening paragraph where I am not as sure as I once was to be an American, I am torn by what my country has become. Others in the world question the same. And this is the reason our empire is at risk

Michael Dmitriev

Danny, well said.....I completely agree.   Mike Dmitriev 

Stephen Nicol

Nicely worded. Well organized and logically presented, and I agree one hundred percent.

Marcia Micheau (Green)