SO...
A lot has been going on since I last blogged here. I always intend to spend more time sharing, but my blogging skills especially when associated with myself are a complete and utter disaster. Regardless, I have made some pretty dramatic changes that I hope will lead toward a better future. For one, I am no longer couch surfing. I almost forgot how comforting it is to have your own place in the world. I am something of a minimalist, more like a functionalist. If it has a use, I will have it and use it. If I no longer have a use for it, bye. Things not people. Thus I have boxes of stuff that I just want to throw away. I want my books and my electronics, add kitchen goodies and I'm pretty much set. I used to do a lot of other things but after my injury I have resigned myself to a hermitage lifestyle. Even though I am pretty much all healed.
Well there is change number one, and here is big ambition number one being made into a reality. I have begun the process of earning the nomination to run for the California State Legislature. This is a big deal for me. I have been heavily invested, on a personal level, in politics for the better part of the last decade. I am a progressive, thus many of the things I see on the state and national level tend to twist my face into a state of disgust. As much as I don't prefer to be associated with the major parties, if I ever plan on progressing beyond the state level, which I do, I will have to pick one. This is my next major decision.
There are benefits and flaws to running with either party. The Dems tend to be more accepting, and progressivism is a more liberal viewpoint, though the Progressive Movement started and was peaked by the Republican Party...which granted then started to dismantle it right after Teddy left the office of the presidency. So clearly the first point goes to the Democratic Party.
The second however is a more idealistic ambition. On nearly every level of government the two parties have grown increasingly split by liberal and conservative tags. Some have even been so forward as to claim this is a good thing, as the divide really allows for debate between the two sides. I respectfully disagree. My intent is to work inside the Republican party to help spread a message of inclusion and compromise. As always, more can be done from within a system to from outside of it, but of course this presents the inherent flaw of being swallowed by a much larger movement to the right. So, not without its hazards, but with noble intent.
Of course this is setting all of my policies aside, which I will save for the point when I am actually running for office.
Decisions....Decisions...