Back into the fray

After writing hard for over two years, I've allowed No Force, No Fraud to sit idle for far too long. Anyone who is still checking this site for something new has the patience of Job, so I expect to have to do some publicity to return to the sunlight. While No Force was seriously active, it got thousands of readers each day. That can become a heavy responsibility. It's also true that discussing political events from outside the two major parties carries with it the frustration of staying aware that almost everything that happens politically simply stinks. Over time, the ponderance of that stink can send one fleeing for the exit door labeled "Let's pretend politics doesn't exist".

Politics does exist, and it does affect each of us every day... even when we ignore it. As Gandhi put it...

"If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encircles us today like the coil of a snake from which one cannot get out, no matter how much one tries. I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake."

Politics isn't fun. Personally, I try hard to find good in life, and making politics part of ones life makes that far harder. Most of what occurs in the political arena is ugly, and that ugliness drives me away occasionally. During the No Force hibernation, I added beauty to my daily activities, by working at a great art museum, doing a lot of photography, and teaching a high school course in art. I had allowed the ugliness of politics to drive beauty from my life. I'm too old to allow that to happen again, so No Force may never again get quite as much attention from me as it once did. Perhaps forcing politics to share time with art will provide its own perspective.

Truth is, this reprise of No Force is partically triggered by guilt. Given that politics can only be ignored at ones peril, it grieves me to sit on the sidelines while others toil to try to maintain our liberties. Credit Sue Jeffers' serious campaign for Governor of Minnesota, and the effort of those helping her, added to the thousands of other libertarians still fighting the fight. It's a fight that most of us try to avoid, until we find it on our doorstep.

Politics is like a big elephant standing in your living room. Sure, you can walk around it, pretend not to hear it or smell it, and even ignore the accumulating dung pile until you have to move, but refusing to acknowledge it won't make it go away. Sooner or later, it will step on you.

C'mon back here, and let's learn how to live with the elephant.