Cue the anthem

As happens every so often, I think I've reached a point at which I should stop blogging, at least for a while. The political scene at every level is such a disaster now, and there's no sign of any of it improving any time soon. Rather than summon up the energy to chronicle the daily declines and falls, I'm inclined to back away.

At the state, regional, county, and city levels of government here in Portland, Oregon, the situation is hopeless. As the 2024 elections showed quite clearly, the voters here simply will not give common sense a chance. As a result, the region's economy is in a shambles. Taxes continue to rise while public services continue their relentless deterioration. The self-proclaimed socialists, the bike children, the developer weasels, the construction goons, the bureaucrat unions, the nonprofit industry legions – they are who's running things, and they are bleeding the normal working people dry. The heyday of Portland is over, and us old-timers are left to sit around mumbling about how good we used to have it. The point has been made many more times than is necessary.

But there's an even bigger reason to give up this hobby for a spell. To stop writing about state and local politics is a way of acknowledging that our hometown problems are nothing compared with the appalling horror show unfolding in the federal government. I'm not interested in being the guy who blogged about the potholes in Stuttgart in 1938. 

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As I wrote back in November, I just don't have it in me to follow the atrocities of Mudface Caligula every day. It's bad for my mental health. 

And besides, given what happened this past weekend, even if I had the starch to keep up a blog that criticizes Dear Leader, I'd be afraid to do it. Folks, the United States is a dictatorship now, plain and simple. The White House is brazenly laughing off the judiciary. Congress has its tail between its legs and is going along with the daily proclamations of hate and revenge. People are being rounded up and flown God knows where, with no legal process whatsoever. Everyone knows it's horribly wrong, legally and morally, but no decent people with guts are in any position to stop the tyranny. The wimpy Ron Wyden sorts will be happy to hold a precious town hall for you when you're imprisoned in Guantánamo, but that's about all they've got to offer.

The billionaires and the Heritage Foundation types are having a field day shredding the Constitution. Putin has defeated us, without firing a shot. We are going back more than 100 years, probably more like 150. Institutions are falling apart daily, including the ones that protect free expression. To be one of the poster children when they come for the "illegal" bloggers is not on my list of life goals.

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So it's time to sign off, for a month, or two, or six, or eight, maybe for years, or forever. If I come up with something apolitical like my farewell to the Jersey Journal, I'll post it. But as for politics, which is what most regular readers come here for, it's time to let go. There's a long list of other sites on the sidebar to this blog (on the left, or click on the "burger"). I commend you to those other sources, at least for as long as they're allowed to keep publishing. 

Thanks for your energy here. And I am not kidding when I say, protect yourself as best you can. Everyone in America should be very, very frightened now.

Above all, never forget who did this. It was the Republican Party. Do not vote for them for anything, ever again.