Under The Radar

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE

Expanding Powers

endemic with all of us

IT'S NOT ABOUT PARTISAN POLITICS !!

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.. One of the blessings of our short winter days and, long winter nights, (aside from fly tying time,) is the down time for reading.
.. We read. Many folks don't read. We venture the opinion that most folks don't have a rigorous reading regime. We can only speak in an informed manner about our little village and our neighbors. Our library receives 500% more books checked out in the summer. These are visitors !
.. On the whole we are a FAT, IGNORANT AND, HAPPY national population. It's a comfortable place to be. We get to fish, sled, travel, camp, hike, etc. We have the opportunity to read books. We seldom do.

IT'S ABOUT THEM

.. We just finished a re-read of The Imperial Presidency, by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (Link 1, Link 2.) It reinforced our foggy but real conviction that something is and, has been, amiss about the drift of our governmental system.
.. Aside from the political party polarization, which comes and goes, there has been a recent trend toward increased and unchecked presidential powers.
.. From Ike to Trump, (save perhaps Carter,) charismatic and egocentric individuals have convinced the American public to elect them.
.. We, our self, survived for over 25 years before we even entertained the thought that there was a trend toward an imperial presidency. We did note that many politicians and presidents acted in imperious ways. From local city councils and library boards to the very top there seemed to be something about the arrogance of both elected officials and their supporting bureaucrats.

IT'S ABOUT US

.. As all of us build our lives we jettison bits and pieces of less than comfortable aspects. These bits are usually the parts that allow for continuous intellectual growth. The parts we keep to ourselves are economic, emotional, leisurely, and other soothing aspects that we incorporate from our individual and cultural milieu.
.. Ours is not a culture that values self examination. It is not a culture that looks inward at so many levels. We devour escapist passions: fishing, skiing, hunting, surfing, lounging, swimming, sports gawking, boating, texting, golfing, bowling, sex, cooking, gluttony, etc.
.. We eschew self examination, cultural scrutiny, social analysis, governmental surveillance, or anything that could interrupt our comfort. This has allowed those with a comfort zone that demands power, dominance, luxuriance addictions, unfettered freedom of action, larceny, to range freely in our society. From the scourge of juvenile delinquency to the horror of gang violence to the freewheeling and unfettered rampage of governmental personages there is an absolute lack of citizen involvement at any meaningful level.

THE RESULTS OF IMPERIUM

.. Voting two hours once a year or four hours every four years is a guarantee of poor government. Griping, whining, praising, cheering during the rest of the time hardly qualifies as participant democracy. This lazy form of democracy allows the erosion of accountability for our politicians.
.. This is a cultural trait of our society. It was a cultural trait of Rome, Athens, Sparta, Egypt, mid century Germany, mid century China, mid century Russia, and so many others.
.. This is not a partisan issue. You can pick your devil. We would suggest that it is a worthwhile use of our enormous "leisure time" to investigate this trend and explore our personal commitment to involvement.

RESOURCES

>> Unconstitutional Power,
>> Imperial Obama #1,
>> Imperial Obama #2,
>> Imperial Bush #1,
>> Imperial Bush #2,
>> Surprised by The Imperial Presidency,
>> Imperial Trump #1,
>> Imperial Trump #2,
>> Imperial Trump #3,
>> Progress Texas,
>> Ukraine On Fire.

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..  Well it's another "Melt Day." And, it follows a minor dump of about 6" it also precedes an anticipated dump of 12".
.. We're pleased with the high country accumulation and a little wary of the mid altitude melting.
.. After some shoveling of the white stuff we're off to the gossip rounds. The town is about full and, sled heads are busy in the mountains and, skiers are ripping up the trails and, turons are riding giant couches to Old Faithful.
.. There's vittles to prepare, (praise the freezer.) There's indoor chores, (ugh,) needing done. And then, flip a coin and decide between a book or some flies to tie.

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WALLPAPER:  GOLDEN WHITE LOAF

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