Back in October of 2024, I wrote a post urging people to think about the important things when choosing who to vote for. It didn't seem to have any impact; as often happens in a democracy, the candidates who had good "stage presence" won. I wasn't surprised at that. When the voters aren't concerned about weighing candidates on their merits, these things just happen. Our political parties don't run candidates based on their qualifications, they field candidates based on who is popular - and seldom does a popular candidate have the qualifications to execute the office they are elected to very well.

When people go about crying and wringing their hands about who won an election, they forget that it was the vote of people just like they are who voted the candidates into office. An election reflects the majority will of the voters... so why vilify the people who are elected? How about doing some soul-searching instead?

Read history. You see this pattern happening over and over again; the blind leading the blind, then when their blindness goes too far, a society or civilization collapses.

Now here in October, 2025, we are still understanding the impact of all the changes, as America seems to be taking a chapter from our old, protectionist, past. The level of foolishness in government decisions seems to me to be the highest I've seen in my lifetime. And as usual, the ones who suffer for those decisions are not the leaders who make them, it is the rest of us.

There is nothing new about that either; you find that throughout history. Enlightened leadership is rare; for example, Marcus Aurelius is considered by historians as the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome. Five, out of how many emperors?

So, what does this say about the future? I don't know; your guess is as good as mine. Many democracies of the past (including the Roman Republic) fell into Autocractic rule after a while. Will ours? I cannot say; perhaps as a result of these times enough people will open their blind eyes to effect change, and perhaps they won't.

People forget that the cause of our own misery is rooted inside us. We always want to blame the other person instead.

Till next time,

Duane