Something

Well, I am back in the United States of America, after a 16-night cruise of the eastern Caribbean, followed by a 7-night cruise two days later of Cuba (Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago de Cuba).   The visit to Cuba was interesting, and a great experience.   So, I get back to this country and find it in a place that does not seem so good.  The result of the election is not the direction that I find best for us or the world community.   It is upsetting, to say the least.  What is difficult to comprehend is that as each day passes, the parade of old white guys who are being put forward to infest the administration of the next president are as bad or worse than the guy who won the electoral college, but fell about 2 million votes short of his opponent.   Getting all riled up at the stupidity, the assault on our Constitution, and the total regressive trajectory of our country is not productive.  However, we can make it through this nightmare if we hang together and do our individual part to join with others to voice our objections, write our letters, and make it clear that we will make our opposition clear.   I guess that it has come to pass that we must accept the fact that we on the left have existed in a complacency that got wrapped up in the feeling that good always triumphs evil and that the good guys always prevail.   Well, now we know, or are getting to be acquainted with the reasons why we failed to win.   On my two cruises, I read two books.  One of them was recommended to me by my college roomie, which will be a topic to be discussed in depth when we cruise together next March.   The other is one that was recommended to me by my Alma Mater Good Books group; "The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America" by George Packer.   If you can, I would recommend this book to understand why a large part of America that voted the other way, and elected our disaster, became what it is.   To me, the prevailing Democratic Party power structure could have done better with what Mr. Packer points out.   Bernie and Michael Moore had it right.  There is a large part of America that has been through the wringer of failed industries, corporate and government neglect, greed, and ignorance.   The book reads well, and I think you might find its presentation easy to follow.   So, rather than get all pissed off and then more agitated, read about the fractured nature of the fragile and forgotten, and then figure out how we should work to fix this mess

Juan
 

"Picking up the pieces and making sense of it all, and then trying to put it all back together is the new game in town"