Welcome, February, 2011

Welcome, gentle readers, to the twenty-third edition of Robbinsense.

I HOPE you’ve noticed that we’ve not published for the last three months. The course of events over this period has been so profound that we can barely keep pace.

We’re looking at “a new world order.” Glenn Beck waxes over the grave danger that this presents. Glenn Beck deals in paranoia. The right wing perceives every world event from the perspective of how it relates to us (or to their political movement.) But the world is marching off to a drummer and rhythm that is beyond us. We may be witnessing the most profound international development---in the Middle East, maybe even in the Midwest, since WWII. The true significance of what’s happening in the Middle East is that we are irrelevant. What’s occurring there is occurring in spite of our presence, rendering a decade of squandering lives, treasure and national integrity meaningless. Considering the political forces yapping at his heels, the president has done an admirable job of staying on the sidelines.

Coming to grips with this phenomenon is wildly constructive in our growth and adaptation to this new world order. We believe these developments open a portal through which we might honestly engage in world affairs as a participant, rather than master. Is it clear at last that we don’t understand these people---that we cannot dictate their affairs with diplomacy, money or bullets? They have handed us the victory that we sought. All we have to do is leave them alone!

The real irony is that if we just let them do their own bidding, they will free us! They will free us from wars of political and economic conquest. They will free us from our “war on terror,” which is an illusion anyway. They may even force us into rehab, freeing us from dependency on their oil. We can walk away.

Imagine George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, one day in 1797 walking out onto their plantations and opening the doors to all of their slaves to freedom… How would that have changed our history?

The world scene aside, at home we face enormous hurdles. Our economy---our political order is in chaos. Charlie Jones has stepped forward and taken off the gloves. Are we on the edge? You judge.

Do you live in Southern California? Are you a long-time KCET viewer? Are you dismayed that this station has dropped from the public broadcasting network? We have KOCE, but they don't seem to be on top of their programming. If you're disgruntled, you may wish to tune into this correspondence with their programming department.

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Happy Reading