The Meditation of Sharpening Plowshares

“O' beautiful, for spacious skies

Now those skies are threatening

They're beating plowshares into swords

For this tired old man that we elected king

Armchair warriors often fail

And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales

The lawyers clean up all details

Since daddy had to lie”

- Don Henley, End Of Innocence

Historically, there was a time before battle when troops would gather, and individuals would prepare in their own way to fight. Some made cleaning their weapons a meditation. Some would become silent, pray, rest in tents or wherever, to recharge their batteries.

I noticed several online citizen journalists, for lack of a better name, are burning out. One said he's checking out for several weeks and will be back at the beginning of election season.

Trump is slowing down, and their pace with the 'Flood The Zone' tactics has slowed as well. It's the pause before the storm. MAGA Republicans are unphased by the prospect of losing elections because they are poised to steal them. Democracy is not something they believe in anymore. They think their agenda is the most important, most valid system, as it were, that any means is justified in keeping that in place. By any other name, that's fascism.

As in any election, there will become evident critical hot spots that turn the overall voting. It's those places I wonder about because I'd like to be there. It's those where we will either maintain our democracy…or lose it. I suspect troops will be sent in to seize ballots. For citizen journalists, that will be the place to be.

It might be a good idea to recharge now. Prepare for battle in our own way, sharpening plowshares into swords, so to speak, and checkout temporary.