A Mother's day call to family back east involved several handsets, 9 family members, and lots of background noise. Hard to tell who I was talking with at times, and who was listening, amidst the hubbub. It was Mom, I think, who asked me what I thought of the current political circus. The lack of enthusiasm at their end felt palpable . . . possibly a few Bernie supporters there; the hushed silence among an often vocal group of left liberals seemed almost eerie, even a bit sad (hey, they're family . . . what can I say. I love them, despite their politics, and I hope they'd say the same of me.)

I've not willingly paid much attention to politics for years. For a time, I was active with the LP (as Vin has been, also.) The people involved were great, but — well, politics is nasty business. Since I "dropped out" of the LP, I've considered myself an anarchist and still do, of the peace loving kind. But since I was asked point blank, I mentioned that I like what John McAfee has to say ("Who? Who's he?") and rather than letting our divergent views derail the friendly conversation, I offered to send them some links. Later.

Here (with some editing, since the original wasn't written to be a blog post) is the email I sent them: (I'll add some further thoughts of my own below.)