By Joel Bowman, on November 9th, 2018% Democracy isn’t easy. That may be the reason monarchies have been much more common, starting with primitive, tribal chieftains back in the days of “pre-history.” The reason we don’t have more and better democracies in the world, is, as gerrymandering came about. The party in charge changes the rules to ensure that it will remain in charge. One of the ways the Ku Klux Klan gained political power, for example, was gerrymandering. That wasn’t their only way, of course, as intimidation also played a significant role.
It is hard for individuals to resist a popular national movement. The . . . → Read More: Democracy
By Joel Bowman, on October 14th, 2018% I’m old enough to know that the U.S. hasn’t always enjoyed a peaceful political process. At one point, we had a major bell curve, with the right and left extremes representing only a few, and the big bulge in the middle consisting of those with more moderate views. We now seem to have bimodal distribution with the big bulges representing the extremes. The divisions lead to class conflict, which at its worse can become class warfare.
Class warfare begins when the division between rich and poor is extreme. The poor outnumber the rich, and when they decide that they . . . → Read More: Civil Unrest
By Joel Bowman, on September 10th, 2018% Alice entered Wonderland by falling down a rabbit hole that led to a strange and metaphorical adventure. Whether the United States has collectively fallen down a rabbit hole or whether politics have always been bizarre isn’t clear (at least to me), but we currently seem to have entered a time when the . . . → Read More: Down the Rabbit Hole
By Joel Bowman, on September 4th, 2017% The term, loose cannon, has been around a long time. Cannons used on sailing vessels were large, typically weighing several tons. To avoid damage from the recoil when they were fired, they were mounted on rollers and secured with rope. The cannon jumped backwards when fired. If you have ever fired a weapon, you are familiar with recoil. The cannons get hot when they are used in battle, and each time a cannon is fired, it jumps higher and rolls farther. If the ropes holding the cannon secure were to break, a loose cannon would roll backwards and crush anything—or . . . → Read More: Loose Cannon on Deck
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