When I write stuff here it is basically my off the cuff thoughts. It may seem somewhat orderly because I have thought too much about something. I honestly am often not certain that I have done a good job explaining myself. 

I know what you mean when you worry for your grandchildren, Kevin. I don't have a child but there are plenty of children in my life, family and friends, and I want them to have a world to enjoy when we are gone. 

Part of my trying to order this stuff in my mind is, when a younger person asks me about any of this, I want to be able to give them an explanation that helps them to understand how we got here. I want them to be able to contemplate the world in a meaningful way. 

To us, I think it is stunning and frightening to see a Trump or any of these nuts around the world doing the things they do in an effort to consolidate their power and create chaos. I don't know what it looks like through the eyes of a kid. 

When I talk with kids about Donald Trump, the thing I most want them to grasp is, he and his behavior are not normal. I want them to know, he is something different that our generation did not grow up with. I am not so much concerned that they know I don't like him, I want them to know, this is not what a US president is supposed to be doing and certainly not acting like. A blind spot for me is, I tend to assume adults would already grasp that and it stuns me many don't. 

I want them to recognize his behavior and his speech as abnormal and know that is not what we are looking for in a person meant to represent us and our country. He is the bad example, the thing we want to stay away from, not move towards. 

So, sort of funny, if I seem to go overboard here talking about our politics or current events, it is because in my head, I am sort of wrestling with how I would explain it to a kid...or Pat Brown. 

You guys have been reading the things I write for 20 something years here. I am among friends and you guys get me. Basically, when I write something here, I think, you guys did not really need to hear it because I feel like we are all on the same page...but there is comfort in knowing we are not alone in these thoughts.

I don't know if my voice would add anything in other formats. I am not a pundit nor an expert, I have not served in government, I have no claim to fame that makes my opinion more interesting. Not that you have to be any of those things to be able to produce valid thoughts but here you guys know my voice. I have tried wading into political conversations on other sites, where politics is the focus...it generally rapidly becomes mayhem and people try less to have a back and forth than to make some point they feel they really need to make about why they hate Democrats or Republicans, you know, pigeonhole anybody that does not agree with them.

I like talking to you guys, it feels like you hear me...in the vast expanse of the political wasteland, I think my voice would get lost in the howling winds.