The following poem was composed by an old-man mystic with long white hair and a long white beard just before he disappeared into the mountains, for good:
“When the Tao prevails in the land /
The horses leisurely graze and fertilize the ground. /
When the Tao is lacking in the land /
War horses are bred outside the city. /
Natural disasters are not as bad as not knowing what is enough. /
Loss is not as bad as wanting more. //
Therefore the sufficiency that comes from knowing /
What is enough is an eternal sufficiency.”
This poem (#46 from the Tao Te Ching, see End Note re: the translator) was written 2,400 years or so ago, and it is as urgent and relevant now as the crumbling, fumbling, brutal, half-assed empire we see all around us right now in late June, 2026, when it will soon be the 250th b-day of the good ol’ United States of America. For the record, over two million people are currently incarcerated in the USA right now, the largest prison population of any nation on the Planet.
I reside in the middle of the country, which is to say the center of the nation, in more ways than one and to say I have an ambivalent relationship with Uncle Sam (personally) is the understatement of the century so far.
When it comes to the dreaded subject of politics these days, in many ways I follow one of my lifelong idols and heroes, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, who railed against figures like Tricky Dick, Ronnie Rayguns, and the lethally boring George Bush/es from his well-known hide-out in the mountains of Colorado.
Anything but “politically correct,” Dr. Thompson was also anything but a Republican and he often saw the white man as the pure demon that is depicted in Moby Dick, Heart of Darkness, and The Great Gatsby, among other books penned by white men who were not afraid to critique and even attack (in writing) their so-called own kind.
My own hide-out is in an urban adjunct of Chicago on the second floor so I can see them coming. I don’t have a gun in here but I do have a large, wolf-like dog who knows karate and his two best friends. You will have to take all four of us out at once if you’re gonna get us.
Our current president is Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and the George Bush Squad all mushed together and inflated to legendary proportions and with generous helpings of Nero and Mussolini thrown in. He is all that and more and he is even bigger than that in many ways, in truth. America has built him all on its own and he is utterly gigantic, like a hulking skyscraper, or like the Incredible Hulk who has somehow turned inexplicably orange instead of green (it can’t only be the make-up). You can also visit (no joke) the (online) Trump Store, which has made many, many millions of dollars during his presidencies selling things like gold sneakers, fake Bibles, three-thousand-dollar watches that were made for three bucks in China, and other wonderful items, like a guitar with bald eagles on it – also made in China. Many presidents have been lying pieces of shit, but never before have we had the privilege of having an actual snake oil salesman in the White House, until now.
You get what you deserve, that is, what you vote for. Profound ignorance rules the day as well as a certain FUCK-THIS (and fuck-you) attitude that comes from being treated like shit for so many years. (I admire his energy even as I am made nauseous by his motives and motivations.)
All I can say right now is that giving Donnie, aka the Fat Don, all the attention is everything of what he wants and nothing of what he deserves.
That goes for those who hate his guts as well as all those who love him to pieces.
END NOTE: Thank you to Charles Muller for his wonderful translation of the Tao Te Ching, 2005.
Dale Barrigar
Saragun Springs 
Dale
“And too this shall pass”, as quouted by Lincoln. And “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Sayeth Pogo.
Only when we get it through our heads that the victims are not saints but are only slightly less odious than the opressors, and that the Good Guys have yet to win a revolution there will be hope.
I got a copy of the Tao. Also a KJV Bible, Quoran and Crowley’s Book of the Law as told to him by Nuit on my headboard. On the Road, Dickenson and Confederacy of Dunces are on there too. Each one says the same thing “We are all born ‘bad’ but we only choose to stay that way because that is easier. Good requires thought and effort.”
Great post, passionate and thoughtful.
Nothing good will happen unless we make it happen and forget leaders as moral examples. Frankly, I find Trump boring and not half as dangerous as Nancy Reagan.
Leila
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LA
You’re absolutely right, the Don is the definition of a bore; and Nancy Reagan was, literally, a menace to society!
DB
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I agree with what you wrote, Dale. To speak of a living hell, how would it be to exist at the whim of Trump, to lie with him and bear his children? And to feign affection for the sonofabitch. Behold, Ste. Melania, laughing all the way to the Deutsche bank.
Or how would it be to exist in the never-never land of Trump’s orbit, performing figurative fellatio on the cretin to obtain your bona fides and advance your career? What IS Todd Blanche and Pam Bondi and company up to nowadays.
Less guilty before God, perhaps, are the unknowingly ignorant who do Trump’s will not through venal self-aggrandizement, but through not knowing any better.
Then there are the maliciously evil amongst us, like deputy White House chief of staff and Reichsfuhrer Stephen Miller and Lindsey Graham and Viktor Orbon; it’s difficult to believe at times, but there are those who believe that Trump is right. Well, I could go on, but don’t get me started…
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You’re right, Bill!
The best ass kissers in the world never even know that what they’re doing is kissing ass. If they woke up and realized it, they might grow a sense of shame and even become a little embarrassed about what groveling snobs they are. Plenty of these people everywhere, including in the mass media and the hoity-toity, holier-than-thou academic world.
Dale
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Dale
I cannot express my affection for Boo and the ethereal Miss Bandit enough. Her face radiates more humanity than the combined swallow, dull visages of congress, senate and supreme court combined. Amazing Dogs are far far far more humane than humans. And I’m sure Sir Boo looked both ways, But being on a lead, I guess that might not have been necessary.
Leila
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Leila
Yes indeed, dogs are better people than lots of people are. Some of them are such great people that I’m not even sure they don’t have people inside them (or maybe angels). We can all learn from them, among other things how non-judgmental and accepting they are and how they know that going with the flow is the name of the game. Animals in general are not just animals, they are full-fledged members of the God’s Creatures Assembly on planet earth.
Dale
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Hi Dale
The Tao says it, like is… Limited resources for unlimited wants–what could possibly go wrong?
Great descriptions of The Don. The Hulk turning orange was perfect, and he had his very own Hulk Hogan stomping for him.
Yes, he is a mass conspiracy unto himself, made whole by the lunatic, not-so, fringe–too many to call a fringe. And just as many against, and, as you say, he loves it!
I’m not a fan of the past four or five Republican presidents, either. I see their agenda well. They are not the party of Lincoln in no way or shape-shifting form.
Glad, dog and dogs have your back and you theirs. Everyone needs at least two or three watch dogs in these gross, and murderous times.
CJA
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CJA
Sometimes I think that the last time this nation had at least a half-great president, his name was LBJ. But he kinda smeared his own legacy with that not-so-little mistake we call the Vietnam War, too. But on the issues of poverty and race, the man was the REAL THING, for the most part. Jimmy C, it seems to me, was much better as a post-president than he ever was as a prez.
I had such high hopes for Obama that I wept tears of joy the night he got elected. But then he didn’t do too much or, at least, not enough. But maybe he did everything he could. At the very least, he has a kind of noble dignity about his own person that I will never stop respecting, especially when it’s contrasted with the utter fool we have now.
DB
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