Bewildered

From an early age, I wondered how the world worked. Well, at first it was how the family worked, life in general, then how school, government and all of that worked. You know, how did rules become laws, become regulations. How did society tell everyone else what was what and how it worked. So many details to keep in mind. So much process.

I pondered about all that. I even wrote essays about it to myself. I really did. I don’t know if that is usual or not, but for me it was. I even shared some of those documents with friends in high school. Decades later they shared them back with me and asked if I still thought the same way. Good Lord! No! I have changed my mind many times as I gathered more information and worked on fresh ideas.

So, I have witnesses to my behavior!

As years became decades and they ticked off life's clock, I felt I understood how America worked. I understood government very well. I even worked for government, was even elected to some minor parts of it and served many years doing that.

Along the way I read public media, at least two newspapers daily, a weekly news magazine as well as journals of deeper material. I continued pondering these matters for many years. I became aware of many details, history and policy emergence based on all of that. It all made sense.

Of course, politics doesn’t always make sense. The public has a large role to play and that does not demand understanding much of anything. It is all about ‘feeling’. In 2024 the public felt many things differently from me, and they elected the current president.

The rest is becoming known to all of us what that means. Chaos is one adjective to use. Another is destructive.

The American ‘way’ is a legacy of long standing. It is a logical consumption of facts and feelings leading to legislation and policy that guides the social order. The guidance is logical and complex. The complexity is not easily understood but the why and how becomes understood in time.

That is not true today. The process has been interrupted and ignored. The Judiciary has been slow to react. The Supreme Court has made conflicting decisions. The Legislative Branch is mostly nonfunctioning. The Executive Branch is overreaching its authority time after time.

Eventually, I think the three branches will sort this out based on our historical legacy. Until then, however, confusion and chaos will reign. Thus, my bewilderment. It seems to me order is long overdue. Why haven’t leaders stepped forward to restore order? A few have spoken up, but where is the team leadership that marshals compromise to manage reason?

We The People are watching. We are seeking leaders to do their jobs. The legacy demands it. Our legacy. And we demand it.

May 12, 2025

 

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