Welcome to my Blog, a small outpost of reason in an unreasonable world.
This is not my first blog, I once ran for political office and blogged extensively about public safety and public policy on my campaign site. As a Real Estate Broker I also blogged about the housing market which I found boring and unrewarding as it was necessary (if you want to eat) to create a “sales spin” less I make my readers and especially my Sellers depressed if not suicidal.
So now, unencumbered by either straddling a political fence where your safe from the attack dogs on each side and the desire to earn a living convincing people that real estate is still a good buy (in some cases it still is) I have created this blog: “The Parapolitical-zoo”. I thought about calling it “if I ran the zoo” or “a zookeepers burden” but those names implied that I knew the answers to complex societal issues.
It is true that I do know many of the answers, but worry not fearless reader, I did not think them out of thin air. I found them in some old document that is battered, torn and weary but still a guiding beacon for all those fleeing tyranny and remains only as strong as the citizens are vigilant and active. That document is the oldest written document still in force: The Constitution of the United States of America. It is an amazing and timeless guarantee to all of individual freedoms and was expressly designed to thwart tyrannical governance. It would also lead us out of so many of the challenges facing our times if only we would follow it.
I did not coin the term “Parapolitical”, Peter Dale Scott did as far as I can tell. Scott an academic, diplomat and poet often wrote about “Deep Politics” which for me is a little too deep. While I do not agree with much of his writing I was struck by his description of “Parapolitics” which deals in a broad sense with repressing knowledge of activity for the good of the state (Para-military/Para-political) But an especially poignant part of his definition for me was the part about “the conduct of public affairs not by rational debate and responsible decision making but by indirection, collusion and deceit.
I think that sentence pretty much sums up the state of public discourse today involving everything political which is to say everything to do with public policy and the public good. The zoo part is my contribution because one not look far to find that the political environment today, as it has been in the past from time to time, is not unlike the struggles for power within the animal kingdom. And a struggle for power is the best description of the political process that has become polarized to the extent that former Presidential Candidate and future Federal Prison Inmate John Edwards may have been right about there being “Two Americas” but not in the way he meant about rich and poor, but rather about “Takers & Givers” in our society.
I guess I should describe my political leanings, although I have already hinted about that in talking about the Constitution. If I had to describe myself politically I would say that I am a “Progressively Independent Conservative Libertarian” or a “PICLE” also my username here or you can follow me on Twitter at ThePICLE . But in full disclosure I am a registered Republican because that is where I find the gatherings have better food but surprisingly to my Democrat friends I also find many normal, reasonable people who more than half the time think like me and isn’t that the best reason to join a political party? But I have crossed party lines with my vote, mostly at the local level but could be persuaded by the right candidate to do so at the state or national level. Which just really means that I am open to candidates and ideas from the loyal opposition. The best way to influence me is with logic, reason and facts, which is why for me, the whole “Occupy” movement has been such a failure even though I could be in agreement with them on some issues.
Lastly I want this blog to be broader than politics. I have many interests and as a former COP I am passionate about “COP stuff”, guns, fitness, personal safety and justice, especially as I see that justice. I am also an avid skier, gym rat and lately a bit of a health and nutrition nut & I love a good cigar and aged scotch. I am also a licensed real estate broker in the state of NM. So expect any and all of those topics and maybe a few more thrown in. I am also working on my first novel which is about what else, “COP stuff”.
I also love Paraprosdokian Sentences that I will close with:
The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
High Desert Writer 
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