Revealed Truth on the Road To Raton 8/2/19

There is something about the road to Raton and back which makes me understand pilgrimages to Mecca. Though maybe on another level. It is not about Mecca. It is about the journey there, and back. I have written so many blogs here about the Revealed Truth that I have lost count so have decided to go to date notations.

The road out yesterday was with a friend I love to have conversations with. And not because she agrees with me on all things. We are both centralists forced to make decisions between two parties we don't agree with. We see things differently some even when we are the only two in the cab of the truck sharing windshield time.  Most of the mountain west would be centralists if not forced to make choices in elections. I cannot be a conservative because I believe in a woman's right to choose. And I cannot be a liberal because I will absolutely not give up my right to arm myself. We believe in our land and the independence to keep it pristine. But as all settlers to a lonely land we believe in helping or neighbors. That is our center.

I was trying to explain centralism to a Midwestern friend. It wasn't easy to find the words. It was clear she didn't get it. You get it if you are a centralist. You believe we are crazy if you are a Democrat and a traitor if you are a Republican and worthy of extermination if you are a Trumpist. Centralists can have polite if sometimes a bit heated discussions and stay friends. Friendship is most important in an area where few people make it past the first two years here. The mountains and the west are not easy and definitely not for everyone. It is why we don't immediately embrace new comers. Why spend the time if they won't be here in a couple years.

On the way back after dropping my friend off I soaked in the vast spaces and aloneness of the high plains. Not loneliness. That is another thing entirely. Early settlers went crazy if they suffered from loneliness. The newcomers move back to where they came from. I love the silence which is not total if you know how to listen. The wind in the grasses, the distant thunder, rain pouring down over the far bluffs. Even birds chattering on the high wires.

Maybe that is what centralism is; awareness of existence beyond your smart phone, and the willingness to live and let live. But damn it don't take my guns or mess with my land, which by the way does not begin and stop at my fence line unless your cattle broke down my fence. Mind you that has absolutely nothing in common with the dictionary definition.  I see it as we have central truths which govern us but we do not demand adherence to every single solitary aspects of our lives. No way would we be caught wearing a MAGA hat. In fact we shake our heads at those with political signs in their yards. The probably just haven't lived here long enough.

As I drove through the canyon heading up to the valley it occurred to me the center of government has shifted. Or the country has shifted away from it. I no long see the eastern seaboard as the center of the US but it still forces its ideas on the rest. Time to split up? Another blog.