COME TO THE PARTY! Was the last great stupidity of democracy to vote on what it could not see?

Remember to see or to perish.* If our vision is impaired, our understanding is impaired. We have chosen not to understand. With a yes vote we have shackled ourselvesagainin the Platonic Cave of Ignorance. Remember, History does not run backward.** We now have chosen to enslave ourselves. Turning our backs on the most precious gifts of our forefathers and foremothersthose dramatic gifts of enlightenment birthing freedomwe have chosen, again, the darkness of the cave. How could this be? We have been turned by the excited exuberance of uninformed minionsthose who lack sufficient understanding, those who are easily swept up in the passion of the moment, those too willing to say Yes! with insufficient understanding of what the consequences of their actions will be, those who lack the foresight contained in the mature understanding of if / then, and those who choose to lie.*** To understand a point of beginning, one must comprehend their current existential circumstance. Lacking an understanding of this fact is exactly what the perennial problem of adolescent ignorance manifests itself to be. Could the facts of the moment be that a superarrogant, ignorant old woman (Pelosi) and a super-arrogant, ignorant old man (Reed) along with an arrogant, nave youth (Obama), as well as the willing crowds of sheep, and finally those less willing and those less informedthose gawking followershave blundered into a crack of darkness (Platos cave) in our current moment and believe they have finally come home? Has a rash, inexperienced arrogance, founded on a fear of not being someone, finally withered into a piteous murmur: We have to do something, anything, whether we know what the consequences will be, or not! I have no truck with the liberal patsies of an age, or of a movement. They lack the heart of the hunterthey meddle in the triflings of their time. It has been said, My Kingdom is not of this worldmy Kingdom is at hand. It is precisely in their lack of understanding of this seeming paradox that they (the liberal left) have demonstrated their lack of maturity. Life is not a zero-sum gameit is the assumption of commitments to understand and to assume responsibility for that understanding. Lets hurry up and vote on this bill so we can see what we dont understand is the hallmark of their abject ignorance. As the older, the more weathered, the more reflective of the worlds people have pondered on what was so miraculous about the gift of democracy, we have, by standing idly by, most recently floated in a cloud of misunderstanding. We have now placed this democratic republic at risk, and this also places at risk democracy itselfthat greatest of gifts to each and every recipient.

The hard-won efforts of parsing real truths from apparent truths, those guiding stars of the ages, those I AM! moments that lead to a personal ownership of MINE NOW!those selfempowering breakthroughsare being frittered away by an unknowing, an ignorance, an inability to comprehend the deep, meaningful realities of the human circumstance. We have allowed ourselves to be informed by the dishonest, surreptitious smatterings of a few misguided, ignorant, lecherous, so-called historians and politicians. We have had two books of Common Sense written in this countrys great history: the first, indubitably an essential expression of the real values of freedom, points us toward ourselves and the benefits of our concomitant social responsibilities; the seconds primary value lies in the fact that it points us again to the first. Picture a tired, old elephant in chain traces dragging a huge log, stopping periodically to look back to see how far it has come. Now, picture a donkey sitting on its hindquarters with a befuddled expression on its face looking from side to side, unable to decide what to think or what to do. These are the current images of the two political parties of the day. They have both lost (chosen to lose) their way in their participation (or lack thereof) in this great countrys governing democratic process. Finally, picture a sleeping giant next to a small fire, his toes barely basking in the heat. Periodically he rouses himself, and still lost in his somnambulant stupor, throws kindling on the fire, and as it catches in the embers he burns his toes and is awakened to a newfound reality: Pay attention or die! The silent independent majority has suddenly come to the party. There is no more powerful tool with which to work for the good of humanity than a truth that complements the fundamental needs of the human family. These truths cannot be just some perceived need that lacks a fundamental understanding of justice and what is best for each and every individual as they attempt to reconcile their existential interface with their reality, along with their imagination and dreams. They must be seasoned, factual truths that have borne the test of time and circumstance, that have a known and accepted, concomitant responsibility firmly attached. Who will be strong enough to say, We must have some comprehensive understanding of the abilities and needs of the species, and we must also be willing to take sufficient time to fathom the depths of our efforts? Essential understanding and the necessary time to move with measured resolve is essential in a working democracy. We now have a dysfunctional hodgepodge of complex and conflicting infrastructures that mire us in meaningless intransigence as well as dishonest efforts. How can so many people claim to know right from wrong while advocating for and actually doing such senseless things? Are they just ignorant, are they liars, or are they both? In any case, there is a need to send most of them back to where they came from. We can ill-afford their wasteful presence in an essential process. A democracy is a doing form of governance that precisely because it represents the will of the people has a most powerful resource in the collective knowledge and will of the people. Any politician who claims to know more than the

electorate lies first to self and then to others. Send them all home! Elect a new breed of politicians, those who understand that their primary responsibility is to protect the hard-won efforts of the ages, those who grasp the essential of efficient, limited government, and those who understand that they participate in the governing process as representatives of their constituents. From the depths of experience we must harvest those miraculous gifts of freedom (that exuberance of latitude that births choice) and resolve (that enduring, focused intent). Both complement what is eternally always already there, and so essential to our personal and communal growth, our well-of being that leads to our well-being, to our very survival. And with this we need an informed citizenry that takes an in-depth understanding of timetested, complementing principles to lead us to the well-being of our souls. We need the silent, independent majority to come to the party.

* From Teilhard de Chardins famous text The Phenomenon of Man. ** In this current volume, History Does Not Run Backward. *** I echo here Jacob Brownowskis plea from The Ascent of Man. I beseech you in the bowels of Christ to think that you may be mistaken. I must add again, Do not continue to steal fundamental freedoms from anyone. You lose, they lose, and the world loses. You may also wish to see Our Current Moment in Vol. II of Sign Posts.