David Rauschenbach ("Leader by default")

Simon Black recently recommended a book to his readers titled Emergency, by Neil Strauss. The recommendation was this:

“Neil tells an important story that we are all completely dependent on a functioning system of complex infrastructure.

We don't think about, for example, whether or not the lights will turn [on] when we flip the switch. We don't think about whether or not water will come out of the faucet, if the toilet will flush, if the grocery store down the road has food in stock, or if the gas station will be pumping fuel tomorrow. We take these things for granted... Emergency tells Neil's story about making this realization, ...”

I call this coming to one's senses, which happened to me at some point.

And as complex as the issue is, I think it can be reduced to a single question: “What is the ideal place to live?”. The relevance might not seem apparent on the surface, but bear with me.

“Imagine - if you can - not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members. Imagine no struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken.

And pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown to you, except as a burden others seem to accept without question, like gullible fools.

I recently moved my family from Berlin, Germany to Mesa, Arizona, where we will reside for the next year, while my wife has our 4th child in the midst of my extended family.

15 minutes from our rental house is the Tonto National "Forest", which is wishful thinking, because it is yet another man-made desert. The area is popular for its cool Salt River, which is fresh, not salty. We headed over there on a hot Sunday morning, to escape the 111°F (44°C) heat, and experienced the beauty of the desert landscape, along with some of the worst examples of degenerate American society.

Andrew Lobaczewski provides an explanation for why good times lead to bad times, in his book, Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes. This excerpt was edited by Laura Knight-Jadczyk (pronounced "yad-chick", she tells me), in her introduction to political ponerology.

This thought for the day comes from a famous and enlightening book titled “A Pattern Language: Towns • Buildings • Construction” (1977).