!The way there
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agk's diary 
29 October 2024 @ 21:44 UTC
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written on GPD Win 1
between daughter slipping in the creek and open mic
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Today was my second-to-last five-hour meeting to
write bylaws for a new political organization.
Friends and I got anti-war presidential candidate
Jill Stein on the ballot in my state. When she gets
40,000 votes, we get four years of ballot access.
We meet over campfire-smoke lapsang souchong tea.

Today the thing felt silly as fantasy baseball.
Next Tuesday votes are counted. In a few weeks our
first convention convenes. We'll see.

We debated and adopted new language. Our bylaws
focus tight. Silently we each grapple with our
situation, what's to be done, the way forward.

How can my family live a decent life in the next
generation or two among ordinary people also living
the best they can, without gross injury to anyone?

I imagine.... State schools train engineers and
world-class diplomats. Overseas military bases
mostly close. Industrial policy, jobs guarantee,
post office bank, aquaculture urban sanitation,
humble but universal health care and education. No
ransomware; no homelessness. Family time. Useful
work. Days off when the sun don't shine and wind
don't blow.

Streets full of bikes, pedestrians; trips beyond
60km mostly by rail or trolleybus. Decent bike
repair shops in every town and urban neighborhood.
Public baths. Fresh bread. Intermittent power
doesn't disrupt daily life. Social, religious, and
recreational organizations. Kids trick-or-treat
with no parents. People are out on their porches.

You can't legislate a world like that starting from
this one, as far as I can see. It's simple and 
desirable, but impossible to get there without a
miracle.

How do small groups of ordinary people prepare
terrain for miracles? Some days I have an answer.
Today I just get these bylaws written.