With this tumultuous government shutdown over the last month or so you seemed to get a feeling that America had two sides, two sides fighting for their point of view, but also, two tribes, one for government workers, toiling away without a check, and one, pupils dilated, thinking about how much they enjoyed the chaos and that it was affecting political rivals so it was just fine…

I’m not old, this wouldn’t have happened with Obama-McCain, or Obama-Romney. Maybe I am old, I remember Bush and Gore and 9/11 and I even worked phones on the Kerry campaign. But here we are, with a clear signal, this President was willing to sacrifice the pay for government workers to get a wall that has less popularity than a vanilla ice video.

Alright I’m old, and to start this manifesto I started out young, at least watching The Daily Show when I was in 6th grade, your parents can mold your politics, but they can’t define them, luckily, I was able to spread my political views wider and louder because I knew my parents had my back.

People that enjoy the suffering of government employees going without a paycheck are a plague upon society, yes they exist in our workplaces, but they should not be allowed to propagate a message of hatred, be it subtly or unsubtly about immigrants or about anyone. These are the people to avoid.

If I had to take a stand, I would do as Nancy has done so far, deny, win, and force Trump to be a Tsar.

Love that Bloc Party song, but yet again, my non-existent audience, here we are. I’ve been back in Columbus since July and I couldn’t be happier. I was never in combat, definitely not Vietnam or Afghanistan, but I did do two years in Delphos, OH, and I would give it a yelp review on par with either of those other places.

I really bit the bullet to get back here, taking a shitty call center phone job and was lucky enough to have an old friend who needed a roommate. He has been great, and I was fortunate enough to find a better job almost right away.

Since being back, I have voted, drank, eaten, wandered, had sex reasonably recently, and even visited the library. That being said, on this MLK weekend, I might even dream. I am planning a California trip for next year that should finally check all the boxes on my bucket list, that way, I can keep making excuses for doing nothing.

I hope I’ve found some kind of stability that I can live in for a long time, but I’m not so ignorant to know it could all be snatched away on a moment’s notice. So I’m savoring every second I can think to remember, and doing my best to keep the ship going in the right direction. It’s Morning in America again.