What’s the Title?

I am pondering writing a book. This is nothing new. I’ve thought about this many times in recent years. Here’s why.

It seems I like to write. A lot. I’ve written this blog for 5.5 years (started in October of 2011) and have continued non-stop ever since. In that time I have posted 1701 times without one repeat. I thought I would run out of topics to write about but that hasn’t happened. A moment or two before the keyboard and suddenly I’ve written 700 to 1000 words on a new topic! I don’t know where this is coming from. It just appears!

I am consistent in what I write. A lot of themes are very similar but always a new twist or added factotum to enrich the commentary.

Make no mistake about it, this is a commentary blog. I started in my late 60’s and am now approaching 74 years of age. As a retiree, active volunteer in many venues, and a curious mind, I’ve pondered many issues and dared to write about them.

In my past life I volunteered to help co-found a small community newspaper. I was the weekly columnist, City Hall reporter, obituary writer, and keeper of the community calendar. I also was the managing editor and corralled the talents of 32 volunteer writers! Our paper served one town intensively, and two neighboring towns lightly. We did this for seven years. We wrote, edited, reported, researched, networked, sold advertising, picked up the print run from 40 miles away and toted it back to town, sorted it by mail routes, and delivered to two post offices and 30 drop off distribution sites. A lot of blood sweat and tears went into that enterprise. We never made any money at it and finally closed it down with modest losses.

That enterprise, however, taught us that we had something to say and it needed to be distributed. I continued to write my blog throughout. At first the blog was developed so I wouldn’t bleed my world view and political bent into the local paper. That worked. Afterwards, however, I continued to blog to keep my mind from exploding!

I now share the blog on my local Facebook and continue my local readership. It’s been fun and I will continue to do this as long as I have something to say.

Everyone has something to say. I’m not the only one. Millions of blogs are written each day. Each has its own following. Mine does, of course, but strangely, several hundred readers each day from Europe and around the globe open the blog. I don’t know why they do but I think many of the readers are university students in communication or English writing classes. They study America and its culture by checking into blogs on the internet. I’m just one of their many ports of call.

At any rate, most of my commentary is political in nature or governance related. The why and how of government is of central interest to me. I think government and its functioning is very important for the well-being of any society. How it works and why it is moral and ethical is of vast importance to me. The fact that often government acts immorally and unethically is a problem I probe. For the most part, however, government is made up of people just like you and I who care about what they do for a living. They run the offices and programs of the government, not elected officials. The latter think they have to act and over-act in order to build a ‘brand’ of leadership. Most likely they create a turmoil without creating anything much good.

Elected officials, to be good and effective, must become the masters of why a program is in existence and why it needs to be well-run. This is not a personal issue. It ought not be an ideological one, either. Our national history is clear about the role of government. We have a Federal System that shares well defined powers among the central government and the several (50) states. Each has their own legal bailiwick. Each needs to cooperate with the other and among themselves to succeed.

The one and only beneficiary of all of this work is the common good of the American people. That’s what the Constitution says and means.

So why are we still discussing this? Because each generation and each American must come to their own understanding about what their nation and government are all about and what it all means. Only when they get it does the system continue to function well. In times of confusion and ideological roiling, government suffers.

We are in that phase currently but this shall also pass. It always has. There are millions of good people who keep the tracks of government and history and education clear and functional. The rest is necessary noise learning what it is all about.

Yes, trump years will pass. Not without some damage, collateral or otherwise, but the damage will be survived and repaired and the government will go on as it should.

I believe this staunchly. It is hard work to keep the belief alive, however.  A lot of hard work. But then that’s what ‘the book’ should be about. I keep struggling how to focus my energy and thinking on what the book should be about. That’s why it hasn’t been written yet.

I have over 1.5 million words of the blog on record and saved. I could cull from that mountainous presence to print a book or two of 200,000 words each. But would they be read? Would they be bought? Would they have an impact? Is this effort worth all the hullaboo it takes to produce a book or two?

I really don’t have an answer to that question. But I will keep you posted on plans as they develop. Right now the itch to write a book is very present. Will it last long enough and remain strong enough to propel me through such an exercise of will and toil?

Only time will tell. And you, dear reader, will be the first to know!

March 29, 2017