Back in the fall of 2012 in those first days after Tim had died, in those last days living in that land of Grey (county), just Irish and I, this blog actually kept me sane. Over the long winter months waiting for when my brother-in-law was coming to get me and take me back home, I created, I looked around, I held space, consciously allowing the words in.

And so I write... were the first words I published here, October 26th, 2012, a post I made into a page and renamed ‘the prologue’. Those first words came to define this, a weft in the weave of why I am still plugging away at this blog of mine.

For me there are things that must be expressed, must be written, or they will consume me.

Now I think it has become even more of a Temenos, a sacred space, a place for me to say whatever I want, how I want.

Writing has become almost this seeking for words type of adventure, a thing I do not because I have to do it, but because I HAVE to write, in the same way I have to breath, or drink water, I attempt to capture the words to bring meaning to what I think, what I know, what I believe, what I see.

And, so, cause this blog is mine and it is whatever I want it to be, I have developed somewhat of a passion for politics, and so I write about politics.

Initially what really awakened this, is a conversation with my dad.

So, it was fall of 2015 and Trump was just a candidate, if an unlikely one, and dad said to me that he would vote for him, “if he could”. He said he liked that he said it “like it is”, couldn’t be bought because he was already rich. He was a deal maker, he thought Trump was just the thing to get things right again in America.

Well, I took issue with that idea, that he was immune to control by outside forces because he was already rich. Yet, dad was not alone, there are, and were, many who believed that, wrong as they were, and still some are blind.

Heck, up until just a few months back I hadn’t even HEARD of the actual name of the thing that prevented a president from enriching themselves from the Presidency – Emoluments Clause.

Er, or HAD prevented, as mere laws are no restriction to this president, clauses… pft…his posse of pawns protect him.

His base LOVE him for that.

And the Democrats want to impeach him for that, since, um, it is what the House is supposed to do, as per the constitution.

To those such as Trump, wealth is an obsession, not just about acquiring the most, but bored with merely wealth become obsessed instead with power.

Power that one may achieve via certain positions, such as President of the United States, and with that power enrich oneself along with all your cronies.

Hence, something else Trump ignores, convention. Most presidents of the past have put their business interests into a blind trust, so as not to be seen in any way profiting off their position.

Yet, ol’rumpTus has never bowed to convention, and impropriety never stopped him from anything.

And this is basically what I explained to dad, that with great power may come great profit, but he didn’t listen and voted for Trump, and far as I know still supports him. Maybe he doesn’t mind that his president is basically running the country at the whims of the highest bidder for his time, and his ear.

Oh, I am obsessed myself, with injustice. Burns a hole right into my soul, can’t handle watching injustice play out on TV shows, can’t watch movies with injustice as the theme, makes me feel this rage inside that I can’t sometimes cope with.

The election of that man changed the landscape. This is I believe a between time, a time of great change, between what was, and what may be.

Besides ushering in that unqualified disaster into power, and the authoritarian weft went deeper into American politics, I became awakened to what was happening, what could happen, what is happening. From that I became interested in understanding this political machine, understand how America worked.

I don’t have a great knowledge of the process, have only a passing understanding even of who does what, why and how. Maybe though, that is a feature not a bug, not a lack of something but a fresh point of view.

I believe that more than ever those fresh eyes are of value.

As I’ve moved through this process, I’ve come to recognize some things about myself – one important one is that I am more liberal centrist when it comes to U.S. politics than I realized. More centrist than is popular at the moment, but as much as I love BIG progressive ideas, I as well want to take in that BIG picture, observe the entire political landscape.

I am all for all the many ideas expressed by the progressive left in the U.S., healthcare for all, living wage, criminal justice reform, and widespread and strict gun laws, and I know how you pay for all that. I mean, I do live in Canada, grew up in Canada, and we got all that stuff, and still we are considered fairly affluent, educated, happy, over all.

Yet, there lurks inside me a measure of conservationism that maybe was inherited in my DNA.

I believe, for instance, that just pushing through certain laws and policies goes against everything that democracy stands for, which is a hearing of both sides, sometimes compromises are required, but in a well run government respect is essential from both sides of that political landscape.

Well, SUPPOSED to be, key word.

That parts of the system in America are broken is obvious, essential parts even. Yet, I still believe that maybe not AS broken as some may think.

If nothing else, I suppose we can say that Trump has exposed the many weaknesses in the system with his constant barrage of chaos, he has pulled apart and pushed at almost every institution America has. So, in the days and weeks and months ahead as the impeachment inquiry goes forth, we shall see that system at work, we shall see how strong it is.

Justice is about balance, the past balanced with current truths, with both sides being heard, that is justice.

For some this whole process is painful and difficult to watch. Hard to see the president of the United States be a constant embarrassment, constantly breaking laws, flattering foes while insulting long-standing allies.

Course, now we have ol’Kavanaughs name raging across twitter again, after a New York Times article revealed more allegations against him that are corroborated, of which none were investigated by the FBI.

Mr Stier said he had seen his former classmate “with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student”.

BBC.COM

We are living through crazy times, Supreme Court Justices lying to get their position and rammed through by corrupt lawmakers, Attorney General acting like he works only for the president and not in the interest of the law, profiting left right and center, every day another scandal.

Then of course, mass shootings at an all time high, with angry white men often pulling the trigger, inspired by Trumps bully pulpit tactics, aping his violent and misogynist language, manifestos dripping with nutjob alt-right extremist conspiracies. People being told that they can break the law and not to worry, he’ll get them off, just do what he wants, how he wants. Be mean, be inhuman and cruel to desperate people, yell at strangers on the street who look different from you, these are the new American values, I guess.

Historically, I do believe that this administration is probably the most lawless in American History.

And, so I write, and such as it is, add my voice to the choir of descent, and #resist, question, inform, just so ya know… why… so, I guess it’s my dads fault.