Do people make big decisions in the Dog Days of Summer? Not so much I think. August is summer, sand, and the lassitude of heavy heat. The one thing that does happen is repetition, for it is easier and less work not to innovate during the sweltering days of sleeping dogs. The critical problem is less than half the world experiences the dog days at a time given the global nature of our planet. But what has this to do with two trick ponies?

Our current leadership is showing signs of being a two or three trick pony. Lots of of shifts in direction, about faces, and a huge range of emotion, but no new content and nothing new happening and ever more emerging dangers. We are in a trance of cult when something new is needed in so many dimensions of our world and economy. Wars that were wars are still wars despite promises and in fact, one of those wars is on the brink of being lost to the aggressor partially because our leader lost his own shell game. The trade wars appear to be engaging, but seem somehow to slip by on obfuscation from trading partners who probably have figured out the one or two tricks of this new pony representing America has at hand. They are content to slowly deal us out of the game of meaningful economics until better days. The temptation is to simply turn over in bed and go back to sleep. When leadership fires the messengers of bad news you know the three tricks didn’t work and this pony has played a paltry tragic show.

A modest proposal for good

Too many people are suffering to give in to the political lassitude of the Dog Days. The immigration/deportation crimes grind on, not decisively, but with a childlike, stubborn, knife-edge-certainty that something ‘necessary’ is happening in the face of plain evidence of injustice, human suffering and economic damage. If you are younger and enraged, get involved in politics. We need an infusion of people in our political system capable of complex thought backed by an understanding of history. With the destruction of the public broadcasting we need a new bridge of truthful news to get the word out and break the cult like obedience to the authoritarians auditioning to be your new parents. Young and old can use what resources they can spare to fund the bridge of legitimate broadcasting until we get our country back. A few very wealthy people are activating from the air conditioned comforts of their wealth redistricting plans that could assure that some day their one trick will be the only trick. August is just another month and good is keeping the dog awake and working to assure the Resistance to this movement of false ‘greatness’ achieves victories in the upcoming mid-terms. Good is keeping on keeping on.