THANK YOU MR. TRUMP

In recent weeks I've done several things I never thought I'd do. I researched all the candidates and issues, including all the little local things, voted in a primary election, and, most startling of all, I actually went to hear someone speak about politics. I've never been all that interested in them, to tell you the truth. I cared about causes, and fought for them, but when it came to which old white men were in office, I couldn't see that it made a whole heckuva lot of difference. I voted in presidential elections, but that was about it. It wasn't until I moved here and started hanging with the Muses -- right around the time we had our first real chance of having anything other than an old white man in office -- that I finally started paying attention.

Anywho, that weekend my Driftwood-Winery-Gang-Turned-Mini-Dinner-Club was planning to meet at one member's house for a big Indian feast, when the hostess discovered that Matthew Dowd -- head political analyst for ABC news, and author of a book called A New Way -- who just happens to live here in Wimberley, would be speaking that very afternoon.  So, she reworked her entire dinner party menu into dishes that could all be prepared in advance, and left the hubbies manning the BBQ spit, so that we three ladies could go hear Dowd speak.

Dowd is an Independent who believes that in order to maintain a real democracy (which is a gift, not a given) we must learn to choose country over party. We must also share a common set of facts -- find out the truth and stand for it. Most importantly, we must be willing to come out of our tribes for the common good. He said every 75 or 80 years we go through a crisis period, and we are now experiencing our third industrial revolution. We have greater knowledge than ever before, but less wisdom. We are divided in two with half of us wanting restoration -- a return to the "good ol' days"-- while the other half wants transformation, to create something better than before. And neither side is willing or able to empathize with the other.

His talk, held at a local restaurant and expected to draw maybe 40 or 50 attendees, drew triple that number. In fact, they had to move us outside on the deck to make room for everyone! When they tried to give Dowd himself credit for the crowd, he said "No, you can thank President Trump for this amazing turnout...While over the past year I have been a consistent critic of our current president for his words and actions, we must give him props for reengaging the American citizenry in their interest in politics and the common good." I am a prime example, am I not?

He also said that, historically, it is always the young and the the creatives who lead the battle for change, for they are the ones best able to imagine a better way, and are more likely to step out of their tribes for the common good. We old people seem to have forgotten how to do this, haven't we? But this newest generation? These truly amazing young people who marched and spoke all around the country this past weekend, reminding us of what it was like to have a fire burning in our bellies back in the 70s? They will most certainly lead the way!