I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
March 25, 2017 - 11:58 a.m.
I'm only starting an hour or so late today; that's because I slept an hour or so late today. I have to start going to sleep earlier. I know I say that every day. It's easier to say than to do. I've done it in the past so I can do it again. Good practice doing something difficult.
Yesterday was a not getting dressed or leaving the house day. That means I will for the most part write about ideas. I'm going to go through my ideas bin till I think I've written enough. My plan is to write a little bit about multiple topics, not one topic in depth.
But first food. I did a culinary experiment last night. I made gnocchi with white sauce. There is not much you can do with the gnocchi but there is with the sauce. The recipe I got online was missing something vital, garlic. I pressed a clove of garlic into it. That made it explode. I'm never making it any other way again. I had bangers with it, I treated the gnocchi like mashed potatoes. They are mashed potatoes, just encased in pasta capsules.
The AHCA, the Republican replacement for the ACA failed yesterday. They didn't bring it up for a vote because it would have been voted down. Trump was rightly mocked for saying, "Who knew that healthcare was so complicated?" The answer was everyone but him. What people don't get is how complicated the politics of healthcare is. There is no place where the perfect being the enemy of the good is more true. The ACA is far from perfect but it passed by the skin of its teeth. It didn't get a single GOP vote. The public option had to be dropped to get it to pass. Yet people think that single payer will somehow pass. I have been advocating single payer since I was old enough to vote, I think before I was old enough to vote. I was disappointed in 2008 when it was not seriously considered for the Democratic platform. The political fight to get it through congress finally convinced me that Obama, Pelosi, and company know what they are doing. They fought for what was possible and achieved it.
When the debate started the majority of the people supported the ACA. Then came the GOP assault and its popularity kept dropping. It ended up costing the Democrats heavily in the midterm elections. People fear changes. What is so often forgotten is that most working age people still get health insurance through their jobs and they are most concerned with losing what they have. People on Medicare were frightened into thinking that they're coverage would suffer. The longer the debate lasted the more people turned against it.
Things have gotten better since the dark days of 2010. Once the ACA came into effect and the initial hiccups were taken care of people saw that their fears were ungrounded. They saw people being helped. They saw the percentage of people without insurance plummet to record lows. Now a strong majority support it. If we could get a Democratic president and congress the flaws in the system can start to be patched. We might be able to get the public option. We could let people buy into Medicare. And when people get used to that we can improve it more. The buying into Medicare is probably the best eventual route to single payer. Everyone has experience with Medicare through seniors they know. It would be hard to sell Medicare as scary.
Next topic; I labeled it, "It's hard to give up your emotional pain." I bet saying no more, that there are Gentle Readers nodding their heads and saying, "I've been there." This is nice as I wrote that long enough ago that I don't remember what emotional pain triggered it. Oddly I remember exactly where I was, by my bed. I think I was going to sleep but I might have been getting up. I thought of something that hurt. Something current triggered a memory. I was sucked into the maelstrom of despair. I started to swim against the current. It was then that I realized that part of me wanted to be sucked in. I was wronged and wanted justice. I didn't want to lose the righteousness of my cause. I was like Gollum getting worked up every time he thought of losing the ring. I hate Bagginses. I hate them forever! I didn't feel hate but the lust for the ring was strong.
The beauty of meds is that I was able to keep swimming till I reached still water and could climb onshore. Recognizing that at some level I wanted to feel the pain was new. I'll have to remember to talk about this with my therapist next week. I didn't think of it this week at therapy even though I knew I was going to write about it.
This feeling of not wanting to give up your victimhood finds its way into politics. Think of the Cuban Americans who after all these years define themselves and their politics by the losses they had in the Cuban revolution almost 60 years ago. There are nations and tribes that are nursing hurts far older than that.
I'm hungry so that's it. I had hoped to cross off more items from the list. Today I'm going to Aldi then off to the Common Ground Coffeehouse to see the Mammals. I think this is the first show that the Mike + Ruthy band has performed under the both old and new name.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018
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Horvendile March 25, 2017
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