All Hail the No Party system

                My wife, a Chinese born American, asked me why we have to have a two party system to run America. I’m an Independent, but I still said it makes America function well. I realized after saying this that I’d assumed there weren’t many people like me, who don’t feel comfortable spending until the cows come home or invading any country we choose.

                I was only in the wilderness for another hour when I looked in the WSJ at the Pew Foundation statistics on the makeup of the electorate.  Republicans are 29 percent, while 35 percent call themselves Democrats. But the shocker for me was the 38 percent of the people who identified themselves as independent.

                My mind started to imagine a different world. You could have former Republicans who believed in evolution. You could have former Democrats who realized the teachers unions were destroying America’s future. An individual could be for budget cuts and for abortion.

                I’m still a little lost on this issue and need to understand why we have a House of Representatives controlled by 29 percent of the electorate. I guess it was because a lot more people think evolution is a communist plot, than thought the country should be run by the trial lawyers.

The outside of a horse, the inside of a man

When I lived in Germany my daughter and I rode western saddles on warm blood horses across the fields of farms outside Frankfurt. Kathy, a civilian employee of the Army Corps of Engineers, owned the horses. Her favorite expression was “there is nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.”

30 years after a back operation, I can no longer ride and my heart is strong. That means my plan to leave the earth in a long gallop on top of a quarter horse is but a dream. I’m probably going to live forever.

In Flintridge, California I owned a thoroughbred/warmblood  (Warmblut) that had been beaten by a prior owner.  I stayed on her when she did 360s so I could prove to my long-dead father that I could do it. Since he used to be a ringmaster at horse shows, I figured he was watching.

But if the saying is true about horses, it is even truer for dogs. The other day my daughter was having a bad day, but she said her puppy always gave her attention and picked up her spirits. You may never get the loyalty from a human being that comes close to that you feel from a dog. (I’ not anthropomorphising   a dog, just trying to describe how it feels from a human perspective)

So in animals we find a relationship that needs to be cultivated and can make our lives better.  When things get tough there is nothing like having a dog at your feel or jumping on a quarter horse to lessen the worries about problems that otherwise might be hard to bear.