As I view the world today — domestically and throughout the globe — what we are engaged in is a universal quest and longing for stability.
It manifests itself in sleepless nights, a roiling gut, that sense of a tight iron band across your chest, the notion that ‘yes, it does make your ass look huge,’ and extreme flatulence. You know the feeling.
Stability means a steady or consistent condition upon which we can individually and collectively base our decisions and expectations about the future. It inspires confidence and assures us that we can attack the future with a sense of balance, support, and predictability. We can live our lives in peace.
Stability allows us to marshal our energy for the future and not flame it off on the past or to constantly gird our loins for the next bit of chaos.
What triggers this observation is its opposite — obvious widespread instability. The Cliff Notes version:
1. Economically, Americans are struggling to figure out the national economy and to make a living in a world in which inflation steals any wage improvement.
The stock market — the index of the “haves” and the “have-it-alls” — is high (good) whilst the baked in cost of inflation at the grocery store — the index of the “have nots” — is troubling (bad).
2. In foreign policy, the world is aflame with a medieval, barbaric, unprovoked superpower conflict against a smaller peaceful country reminiscent of the worst times in Dark Ages European history, the Israelis v Hamas conflagration after a bloodthirsty attack against people living peacefully in their homes, Iran and its multitude of terror proxies wreaking havoc, Iran becoming nuclear capable (FFS, we let this happen?), North Korea again a major troublemaker with its nuclear weapons, China with its absurd designs on Taiwan (Xi, dude, Taiwan does not want to be part of China and the One China myth is nonsense, grow up), and challenges to international shipping (Iran proxy, the Houthis).
3. The US – Cartel (Mexico) border is open and the locus of an invasion of gargantuan proportions as more than 12,000,000 illegals and “got aways” have flooded into the country — equal to the total population of New York City, Dime Box, Texas; plus the states of Wyoming and Rhode Island; or, Houston, Dallas, Las Angeles, Chicago, and Washington DC.
Wow, think about that size analogy. All those sanctuary cities were very cool with their feel good virtue signaling until the actual illegals showed up, eh?
It is nuts and we are spending nearly $500,000,000,000 annually to deal with it, almost as much as the Department of Defense budget.
As important, fentanyl is pouring across the border killing Americans in record numbers and the border on the south side is not with Mexico, but with the cartels who are terrorist organizations against whom we have no plan to defend ourselves.
4. Socially, America is aghast with gender, race, sexual orientation, and common sense issues. Throw in abortion.
The Internal Revenue Service has more agents than the United States Marine Corps has Marines. WTF?
5. Educationally, the country is still reeling from the Pandemic impact whilst school teachers are grooming pre-pubescent youngsters who eat glue to confront complex notions of sex and gender. It is madness.
Elite universities are unable to determine if their codes of conduct actually forbid genocide and eliminating entire nations whilst being wildly anti-Semitic.
6. Politically we are faced with a redux of the chaotic and contentious 2020 POTUS election, allegations by both sides of past and future election cheating, our choice limited to two old white guys one (an octogenarian) of whom is senile whilst the other (a septuagenarian) is the target of a massive lawfare campaign, the weaponization of government, and the FBI investigating soccer moms and school boards.
This will be an interesting election as both candidates have served as POTUS and both have records with easily comparable policies and real outcomes from which to judge.
Yes, there is, dear reader: The University of North Carolina Tarheels beat Duke University in the most hotly contested sports rivalry on the planet in convincing fashion at Chapel Hill by a score of 93 – 84 setting up another great game when they meet for the second time on 9 March at 6:30 PM at Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium, an archaic pre-World War II facility.
The Heels and the Dookies will likely play again in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and, maybe, if the gods are kind, again in March Madness.
Hey, it could happen.
OK, here it is. Seek and embrace stability in everything you do because instability is sapping our individual and collective energy.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red car, and, yes, I am a Heels fan.
