Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Refocusing

The President-elect exceeds expectations by making good cabinet selections.

The President-elect lives down to low expectations by musing on Twitter about how he would like to eliminate free expression criminalize flag-burning.

One of the most brutal, murderous, racist, homophobic tyrants of the last hundred years dies -- and American liberals (including one who was the Green Party nominee in this year's presidential election) respond by praising him.

Said Green Party presidential nominee launches a suspicious-looking movement to force three states to hold recounts.

A resort town in one of my favorite areas on Earth gets scorched by a sudden wildfire of apocalyptic proportions.

Normally I could blog for hours about any one of these things, but right now I don't have it in me.

I have often been accused of complimented for writing about politics a lot. Which I do. But as hard as this is to believe, I take no joy in it.

Ok, ok, every now and then I do take a little bit of joy in it, but not often and not much. I want government to be far away from our lives and not meddle in them, so that we never have to think about it.

Unfortunately, however, 'tis not in government's nature to leave us alone and let us be free. Therefore, I feel a duty to keep an eye on government, and that sense of duty often drives me to my keyboard to cry foul in print (or whatever passes for print these days).

Right now, however, the drive is not there. Last week I started writing a post about the Electoral College, which I believe to be a vitally important topic, but I can't motivate myself to finish it, at least not for the time being. My "current events needle" is stuck on zero and I have no desire to step on the gas.

A few weeks ago, I loved hiking in the Smokies in their pleasant autumn temps. I treasured snuggling with Parker when I tucked him into bed tonight. I enjoyed driving fast across the bridge this morning, windows down, when Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" came on the radio. The political world was nowhere on my mind when those things happened, and looking back, that's how I like it.

Right now I want to take my family and move to the mountains, and spend every day enjoying the company and horsing around and appreciating life. The last thing I want to do is get my knickers in a twist about Chuck Schumer saying something slimy or Donald Trump saying something nutty.

It is normal for me to take a bit of a blogging break in December, by recycling previous posts about Christmas rather than hammering out new ones about shenanigans in DC and Damascus. This time around, my break from "political blogging" is going to be longer than normal (barring unforeseen circumstances).

2016 has been a rough year and I am putting my wires back into the plugs where they belong. Sure, I will write about politics again -- probably starting by finishing that Electoral College post I mentioned -- but that won't be for a while and it won't be as frequent.

I am not going soft -- I will still call out politicians and opinion shapers who need to be called out -- but you will be seeing a larger proportion of uplifting, unpolitical things posted here in 2017. And right now that's all I have to say.

Well, that and may the Christmas season bring you joy and peace, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

Take care.


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