Taxation WITH representation isn’t so hot, either.
   -Anonymous

When our computers lock up or display odd behavior that we want to eliminate, we often reboot, restarting the system in the hope that reloading the operating system will remove the source of the aberrancy.

Sometimes it is a television series that is in effect “rebooted” such as the new incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, about which one of the lead actors issued the caveat to “not watch” if one was a huge fan of the original and could not stand the prospect of a significant change in details even if the original concept was preserved.

There are time when I wish we could reboot to the years immediately following World War II, up to around 1968 or so, because despite the abuses of the “Communist threat” for political purposes, there was an optimism that would not die until the early days of the Nixon administration, a vision of the future that while limited because of the social attitudes of the time still contained an incredible optimism that has been lost in our age of irony and nihilism.

There was once a time when we believed that even it certain rogue agents of our government might act in ways contrary to our fundamental values, those bad acts would be completely repudiated by those elected to represent and act on our behalf, Now, we are left with the ambiguity of a government that seemingly is searching for legalistic loopholes in treaties to allow sanctioned abuses of those held by agents of our government, acts that once would have been beyond the pale.

Unfortunately, we cannot reboot, we cannot reset the attitudes of the world, nor can we reject the actions of the government we elected and who many still support, no matter how vile or abhorrent the acts committed. We have made our bed, now it is time to lay in it and accept the consequences. We should recall that all dominant powers have had their fall, and all fell due to the internal contradictions and errors of the leaders who could not understand history. Our fall will be determined by the same factors, and it is our responsibility.

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