A Very Important Year ...

This blog, Pattio Conversation, has been here for several years and I have not put anything to speak of on it. So, today, I erased what was here. Right now, the things I want to write are: 1) my novels -- three of them planned and one mostly written, and 2) thoughts on the current election year that I think is a critical time in the history of our republic.

The second of these is, for much of the time lately, crowding out the first. That's probably not good. But it is what it is.

So, this space will be where I wax verbose and preachy, OR I comment thoughtfully (that depends, probably on whether or not anyone reading it agrees with me) on the issues that I think people need to spend more time thinking about and understanding right now. Not that I'm going to understand so much better than anyone else, but I'm definitely going to at least weigh things a bit before swallowing the "party lines" -- hooks, lines, and sinkers. And I'm going to do it more here than on other sites. And more deliberately -- I hope.

But I'm a human animal, after all, and we human animals tend to like what confirms out biases. We need to know that about ourselves, and we need to deal with it, and take it into account when figuring things out.

Even knowing that, I doubt that my political philosophy can change a great deal from what it is currently, and I doubt that I can be convinced that voting for this year's national Republican Party nominees is a good idea (there, that's my current bias -- Left Progressive). Does that mean that I will only pay attention to the Left Wing Echo Chamber, seek out information that supports what I WANT to believe, and spend my time here justifying my preconceived positions on the issues of the day?

I don't think so. Not really. What it means is that my values have been explored, examined, and evolved over a great many years, and with a great deal of attention and thought and argument with people who push back and make me justify my positions, and I'm pretty sure that new information and argument, however well made, will not change what I have come to value at a bedrock level.

But at this time in history, the Republican Party is opposing a huge swath of those things I have come to value, and I think people of conscience need to push back, or at least make them justify what they espouse.

So, I don't think my mind will change a whole lot, but I do think it's important for people of conviction to engage each other and figure out what our world needs to survive with Umpteen Billions of us roving about on it together.

And right now, what does my country -- the United States -- need for a president? For a Congress? What does science need to move us forward? How can we engage philosophy and history to inform our critical decisions? Here in the US and around the world? What are other people thinking and what's my opinion of their opinions?

Am I just kidding myself that I can be logical and cogent in my evaluation of the political and social arguments of the day? Does anyone else care?

Hmmm. Maybe. Maybe not. But then, if you've come this far, read what I have to say in the days to come, and maybe comment from time to time, and we'll see.