Harry's Ruminations

Some things are too long for a tweet, to short for a short-form essay.  I like to think of them like "macro-tweets."   Some have taken to posting paragraphs or even whole positions on twitter in the form of: 1/7 2/7 And so on.  That's an abuse of the platform.  Longer-form should be somewhere else. End preamble.  * * * So Maria and I have abandoned swimming for the moment.  I don't know why exactly, aside from we don't have an indoor pool membership and the outdoor pool we have is rather.... variable ...with regard to temperature.  I went to swim about 400m with an air temp of 48 degrees back in September, and part of my body just went:  "You're nucking futs, dude." In lieu of that, Maria and I are walking every morning.  Typically a one-mile circuit right outside our front door.  In the back of my mind, I hope we'll graduate to jogging, but for now I'm simply enjoying the time with my daughter. We talk about many things...

Last Tuesday night was surreal. The data all indicated that DJT had no chance in hell of becoming president.   He never polled above 42%.  Then...the returns rolled in.  The NBC anchor team already had their through-line prepped: "Did he lose the election on day one, calling immigrants rapists?"  "If he loses Florida or North Carolina, he's going to have a long night." As the hours wore on, it became clear that we were at the very end of the bell curve, amid Nate Silver's 15% chance that DJT could win.  I became more and more despondent, realizing that of the two bad choices, the Chaotic Evil was going to be the electoral victor. I don't have more to offer than the deluge of think-pieces since Wednesday morning.  Democrats are largely out of power everywhere now.  The majority of governorships, state legislatures, both houses of Congress and now POTUS are Republican. I should be happy.   After all, I'm a (moderate) Republican. ...

Whatever happens over the next few days, I'd like us to remember we're Americans. We've surmounted Monarchy, the burning of the capital, a war between ourselves, mountain ranges, slavery, polio, Fascism, Communism, presidential assassination, Watergate, 9/11, pet rocks, and several sub-par Metallica albums. People tried to take our freedom. "Over our dead bodies!" we cry. And so it was. We will gladly give it away, though, in fear and hate, vilifying our neighbors. I care about what happens next Tuesday, sure. However, what happens in the days and weeks thereafter is what history shall remember. May Lincoln's summary remain true: "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Blessings be with you all.