More to Impeachment Than Meets the Eye

There is so much more to this impeachment of President Trump than that which is obvious. The obvious is that the opposition simply wants to impeach and destroy the president.  This, in and of itself, is bad enough, when one considers that the push for impeachment began just after the 2016 election, before Mr. Trump was even inaugurated.  There may be motives, even in this most fundamental of reasons that move deeply beneath the surface, because the drive to impeach began before he was President.

The opposition has been caterwauling and pontificating about upholding and defending the Constitution.  This argument does not really make any sense to me.  These very same legislators that are hell bent on “defending the Constitution” are also hell bent on taking away the citizens’ right to self-defense.  These same legislators that want to “defend the Constitution” voted to force every American citizen to buy a product from private businesses. (That being Obamacare.)  It would seem to me, in my archaic world view, that one cannot support one part of the Constitution and pee on another.  I am not sure that we can pick and choose which of the rules we want to obey and which we want to ignore.

Even the simple idea of wanting to impeach an opposition President is suspect to me.  What is the foundation of this kind of thinking?  If a candidate wins the election, by the rules in force, why would the opposition think that they have the right to overturn the election?  Where are we in our political thinking that any of us would consider such actions?  Is one part of our society at a point where they hold the rest of our society in total contempt?  Why else would you think that you, as elected representatives to Congress, have the authority to overturn a Presidential election?  This is something that we all should think about.

Even more ominous I think, is the fact that hired bureaucrats at the FBI were actively involved in trying to influence the outcome of the election and then joined in the attempt to smear Trump after the election.  It seems impossible to me, that Paige and Strok in the FBI were just “rogue” agents.  I cannot see two people conducting the campaign that their text messages show without others supporting it.

I would offer as evidence, if not proof, that the FBI used the now totally discredited Steele Dossier to obtain FISA warrants to spy on Trump and his people.  It was not just once, but apparently the FBI got 4 warrants using this fictional report.  This would have taken a group of people working in concert, suggesting to me that this unelected bureaucracy has taken upon itself the role of a governing oligarchy – beyond the control of the elected officials who are authorized by the Constitution to run the government.

There was more of this evidence offered by the State Department employees who “testified” before the House Judiciary committee on the Ukrainian situation.  Each of these “diplomats” complained that Mr. Trump went “outside” of the established channels to conduct his foreign policy.  It wasn’t that the policies were that wrong, just that Trump bypassed the establishment.  Again, what is the basis of this kind of thinking? What has happened that it has become acceptable for bureaucrats to set policy, execute policy regardless of the President and his stated policy and goals?  Are we governed by the Constitution and its rules or are we governed by unelected, unaccountable oligarchs?

But, are we really looking at 2 divergent forces moving against the Constitution and the people, or are we simply seeing two regiments of the same army?  Have established elected politicians and non-elected bureaucrats truly formed themselves in Codeville’s Ruling Class?  Have we lost our Constitutional Republic while politics was distracting us?  And who really benefits from the loss of our democracy?

These are questions that we should be asking.  And while we are absorbed in the “politics” of impeachment, out in Virginia, the governor is threatening to call out the National Guard to disarm the citizens.  We need to watching, listening, and thinking.  There are those who would take our liberties for their own power and gain.  There are things moving and we could be swept away without even knowing it.

The Candle is Burning Low and the Hour is Getting Late

Journal – December 7 2019

I woke up this morning with a peculiar sense of urgency – not the usual “uh oh I better get up” urgency, but the feeling that something was different, or that it was time for something different.  I was dreaming when I woke up.  I was dreaming about a candle burning low and the flame flickering and I could here the spectral voice of “a friend of us all, Mr. Bob Dylan” singing, “So, let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.”

While I was busy other places the day has gotten late; very late indeed.  There are probably several reasons why this line of thinking has started.  Not meaning to be maudlin, I am in the later chapters of my life. Turning 67, I have spent more of my life than I have left.  Not maudlin, not sappy, just being real.  Every day is a gift now, and there are many more to come, but, while I may have 10 or maybe even 20 years left, I do not have another 67.  The candle is burning down and the hour is getting late.
My second back surgery is scheduled for next week.  While I have lived well with this bad back for 40 years, I just can’t take it anymore.  I think the pain and weakness is gnawing at me, too, reminding me of my limitations and mortality.  Combining a pending surgery with the reality of the shortness of time is raising hell in my mind.

I have lived an interesting life.  Many people would think that my life has been wasted, squandered, and has meant little, but it has been a most interesting trip.  I failed at several business ventures, lost two wives and a family, don’t own my own house, or have a retirement IRA. My life has been unconventional. I have seen the sun come up over the Canadian prairies, I have seen sunsets in Vermont, walked beneath the smoky winter sky in the Virginia woods, and trailed cows across the vast abandoned strip mines in West Virginia.  I have crisscrossed the country a half a dozen times and wandered around the upper Midwest.  I have danced beneath the Northern Lights and walked along the shores of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans. 

It has been a strange and amazing journey! And there are so many stories that need to be told.  That may be the biggest drive behind this sense of urgency.  I have to tell the stories while there is still time and while I can still remember them.  The candle is burning low and the hour is getting late.
I have heard that professional writers force themselves to write for a specific period of time every day.  Sometimes they write nothing but words in a row, sometimes they create great art.  It is, I guess, not a guarantee, but it is a discipline.  I have no discipline.  I have established patterns and routines in my life, but I am totally undisciplined.  I wonder if I can become disciplined in order to tell the stories before they are gone?

We shall see.  And, maybe NearCommonSense will be come my way of sharing my efforts with my Faithful Readers.

Watch here and see how I do.