Manifestations of A Mad Man

One Bloke's Pragmatic, Prophetic, Pontifical & Poetical
Perspectives on People, Piety, Policy & Politics

I believe that enlightenment is best achieved by engaging and exploring alternative points of view, that opinions and convictions are best formulated empirically, and that perspectives should be tendered without apology. They’re merely what we believed to be true at a given point in time, subject to change, and nothing for anyone to get their panties in a knot over. Hell, we might feel differently next week. That’s how it works when we continue to grow.

Sometime in 2016, as Trump’s political shenanigans were transpiring in Washington, long-dormant emotions and sensibilities awakened in me, and I felt compelled to engage. Even though I was an adult, I was reluctant to voice my opinion because I was afraid if pressed, I couldn’t back it up, and I didn’t want to show my ignorance. ;-)

First I needed to figure out where my give-a-shit factor was on stuff. I found I have a broad and abiding regard for embracing diversity and inclusion, the import of the phrase “you do you”, a practical appreciation for the premise “I’m Ok, You’re Ok” and the precepts “Do No Harm” and “Leave No Trace”. Then I had a starting point to form opinions and ultimately, convictions.

I found that writing about stuff forced me to scrutinize it and gain a better understanding of it. With my rumination and filtering mechanisms like ethics, morality, and legality completed, I had informed opinions and some actual convictions. I was ready to be part of the greater discussion.

I don’t pigeon-hole myself as Democrat, Republican, Liberal, or Conservative, but merely a free-thinking 60s-era poet who realizes that health is fundamental to both life and the pursuit of happiness, that liberty should be color-blind, and that big business will never think beyond next quarter's earnings report to put our country's best interest ahead of their bottom line. Protecting the environment or even their own consumers is paradoxically secondary to them, which is irrational, unreasonable, and illogical, the triumvirate if stupid. Oops, my sense is all that makes me an unabashed woke liberal.

This book is a comprehensive conglomeration of my perspectives about the people, piety, politics, and policies of the Trump era up until the Summer of 2024 when I had to stop. In the beginning, it was cathartic for me and the only thing I thought I could do to help thwart the idiocy of the time. But toward the end, it was consuming me and I needed a reset.

This is how I decided to put it to bed. I couldn’t just let it all evaporate into the digital ether, so I converted it into something more tangible as a historical remembrance.