I blogged a man in Reno, just to watch him comment

It was one month ago today that I sent out a half-dozen e-mails to a half-dozen friends inviting them to look in on my blog. That was all. Just look in. These were fairly liberal friends (at least I think so). To be honest, the most recent that I've seen any of them was last Christmas, and some I havent seen in years. Plus, for the last... fifteen years?... yes, fifteen years, I've been a truly lousy correspondant, achieving maybe a letter or two a year. Well, maybe, but probably not. I could make excuses, but no one wants to hear them, and this post will be whiny enough without them.
So anyway, I sent out these invitations, and I kept writing. After all, I write this blog because I want to, not to please my friends, or to impress anybody (although to achieve either of these things would be acceptable okay fine by me great). A week goes by, nothing. At two weeks, I forced the issue, e-mailing one of them, and saying, "maybe the e-mail just didnt go out like it should have?" No, this person assured me, it went out, and yes, they looked in on my blog, and found it a little "ranty".
"Ranty"?
Well, yes, it is ranty. They went on to say "I mean, God knows I'm no Bush fan, but life is too short to dwell on the unpleasant things, I think. And the current state of our government is one of the most unpleasant things I can think of."

sigh.

Really, it's hard to argue with this, or at least hard for part of me to argue. Part of me is jumping up and down shrieking, "Will you just stand by while the Powers in Charge attempt to make your children into their butt-puppets!!!"
Then there's another part, a part that is weary of every day opening the paper, or reading on-line, and discovering a fresh outrage committed by the Bush Corporation. That part understands all too well the urge to avoid all the unpleasantness. That part would like very much to settle down in a comfy chair (wrapped in a blanket, on a cool fall day, maybe on a porch somewhere) and read a novel about a far off land.
There's one other part, though. This part watches the ranting part, and watches the weary part, and understands both. But it's worried. Worried because it feels that what the country is currently going through is a watershed event, one which will change things for the worse. Much, much more for the worse, for years to come. Maybe I'm missing important chunks in my history lessons, but what I see is that now, for the first time in America, fringe elements of our society have not only a loud voice, but have direct access to our highest leaders. This kind of thing gnaws at me, and takes all the comfort out of a good novel.
People in America who do not feel that evangelical zeal and being responsible for only yourself is a good way to run a government need to speak up, even just a little. For the busy or the timid, Protest meetings and Rallies are not necessary. Just talk. This was one of the main points of my September 11th post, and this was the motivator for sending out the invitations to view my blog, the hope that I might generate talk.

A hope, sadly, dashed.

So now I'm back on my own, howling into the void, hoping to connect with anyone, friend or foe, even the boys at Homeland Security. I gratefully acknowledge those who have commented here (save web-bots, whose masters should be consigned to the deepest pits of hell). You dont necessarily keep me going, but you sure make it more pleasant to go there.

Oh, I almost forgot. One of the half-dozen had a very good excuse, as she just had a baby. Congratulations to Pearlygirl on her lovely daughter, may she bring you as much joy as do mine to me.