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Michaelmas Sunset - Captured 29 September at 18:45 - Taken by Jonah W.
There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.
This saying was attributed to Vladimir Lenin in a 2001 article by former member of the British Parliament, George Galloway. People have since commonly attributed this quote to Lenin, however there is no evidence to suggest that he is the one who said it. Whomever may have spoken the words, I prefer it as a timeless quote untainted by the history of one individual or another. It’s the political version of ‘The House of the Rising Sun’; no definitive origin. It simply is. Speaking to something which goes far beyond one era.
September of the year two thousand and twenty five has been one which has made of us many ponder whether we are going through decades in weeks.
There is a saying on the internet which has gained popularity amongst a certain subset of hyper-online politicos, usually of the younger ilk. The phrase is, “nothing ever happens”. They use the phrase to describe the feeling that despite the boisterous headlines we are all subjected to on an hourly basis, the air of blah that permeates those addicted to scrolling will persist. That the slow boil of the world will continue no matter the story. All there is to explore has been explored, all that could be seen has been seen, all that could be has been. To them it is an expression of a deep nihilistic apathy with life. A feeling that, well, nothing ever happens. That the mystery of the world is no longer.
When we wake up and immediately check our cell phones, we are subjected to everything, everywhere, all at once. The immediate shock of all the news of the world, thoughtfully tailored by our own personal algorithm, drowns our being in information. The dawn of our day was once the sun, now it is the blue light of our twelve hundred dollar black mirrors. Instead of the twitter of a mourning dove gracefully beginning our day, we have the twitter of the cell-phone banging it’s war drums into our soul.
We are seeing such fantastic shifts in our world at a pace so rapid that it has begun to blur. We are the observer in Einstein’s experiment with the train. Where once the train was going at a pace where we could make out the entirety of the it, it now goes at a pace so rapid that we see but a blur.
That experiment ends with the observer being unable to see the train at all.
The psychology of ‘nothing ever happens’, is as a result of the train which is our world accelerating at such a rapid pace that the eyes of some can no longer see. My opinion is that everyone is capable of seeing the train, they simply choose not to. Whether consciously or unconsciously, some choose not to look at the accelerating shifts in the world because to do so is to admit that the silos we have all found comfort in have left us absolutely unprepared for the speed of this train.
Corner of Union and Overseers - 12 September at 17:08 - Taken by Jonah W.
Two hundred and forty nine years ago the aristocrats of the thirteen British American colonies staged a revolution from the Crown. Using their extensive knowledge of the Republics of old, they constructed a Republic which didn’t simply break the chains of the divine right of Kings; but began an era of the human race where our natural rights were enshrined into principles and laws protected by the government. In a world where people viewed themselves as subjects, these men constructed a nation of citizens.
Our natural rights are those which are ordained to all of us by virtue of being born. The right to speak freely without persecution, the right to assemble, the right to self defense, the freedom to worship God, the right to be secure in your person, house, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures; the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury. These are not rights given to us by government, these are rights endowed to us by our Creator, enshrined by our government. All of humanity is subject to these rights by virtue of birth, but we the citizens of this Republic of these United States of America are privileged to have a government which has them as their founding principles.
Whether or not we are going through decades in weeks is a question which I think can only be answered in retrospect. However, it is clear that there is a happening. This month showed displays of the disconnect between human beings and their humanity in a way that is unprecedented. The violent imagery on our screens was met by many with a brash sociopathy. The fibers holding the fabric that is our civilization together are quite thin.
The brutal murder of a young woman on a train, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the shootings of school children, the continuing siege of Gaza, encroachment of the West Bank, and withholding of hostages and prisoners. Congressional confirmation of a network of pedophiles at the highest echelons of power; all met with glib reactionary comments lobbed back and forth between all those plugged in to the online world.
I do my best to avoid using ‘social media’. Though I’ve have friends in group chats who don’t hesitate to keep me up-to-date with the ongoings of the subsets of the world wide web. I am often rolling my eyes at whatever ridiculous post is sent, looking down affectionately at the chip on my shoulder; grateful for the peace of mind I get in not participating. This month I could not resist the allure of the scroll, and I paid the mental price for it. My youth precedes me, but I am old enough to remember a time where we at least pretended to be civilized.
As I scrolled I kept finding myself asking, is this truly who are? Is this what we have become?
There are seemingly many open questions regarding the events surrounding the assassination, and I will not begin to open that can of worms here. However, the aftermath of the event sickened me to my stomach. Obviously this is a reaction to a minority of very loud voices online, which I do my best to avoid doing, but this event in particular absolutely begs a reaction from any sane person who would prefer society doesn’t implode on itself due to an irrevocable tear in the fabric. People are somehow able to watch a man have a bullet shot into to his neck, with his blood spilling everywhere, children who were there to participate in the body politic running away with screams of terror, and the chaos of the unknown in a moment of such terror; coming away from it with the idea to go back to every last controversial comment made by the man who just had his jugular ripped open by a bullet, and post them on the internet to justify his death. Celebrating the fact he can no longer speak to what he believed. That is some kind of brash sociopathy that I am not sure the world has ever seen on such a grand scale before. These same people have equated Charlie Kirk to Adolf Hitler, with some oh so generously saying he was but a leader of the neo-Hitler youth.
Let’s play along and say Charlie Kirk was a leader of a new kind of Hitler youth, conspiring with the authoritarian to subvert the minds of the young for the goal of creating a populace sufficiently disconnected from their humanity to be able to allow for control of the masses and atrocities against speech, spirit, and body on a mass scale. Those actions would constitute in a variety of ways a criminal act under international human rights law.
Is the way to administer justice for the people who would be living under such terror to murder the leader of their youth movement in broad daylight on a university campus? Is cheering that kind of vigilante justice cohesive to the fantasy revolution against the ‘man’ that is happening in your head? In a banana republic where the levers of power are ruthlessly and violently fought for, the answers would be yes. In a true and steady Republic of citizens in which division is ruthlessly, but politely, handled in the town halls, Capitol buildings, Court rooms, and dinner tables across this grand country; the answers to both of those questions are a clear no.
Now let’s deal in reality. Charlie Kirk was not a leader of a neo-nazi youth movement. He was a conservative podcaster in his early thirties who had been live-streaming and consecutively participating in politics from his teenage years to his assassination. Throughout that time he built a brand, and a company out of that brand which had a significant impact on young people. Going to places of higher education across the world to galvanize a rightward cultural and political shift amongst the kids. Despite the beliefs of my critics I am not apart of that conservative movement, it would simply be naive of me to ignore the reality of Charlie Kirk’s life. I could get some political points by pointing out statements he’s made that I disagree with, but truly, what would the point of that be?
This Republic can only persist if we are willing to engage with one another. You will never gain a majority in the halls of power for the governments of our nation, and the States which make it one, by viewing all those who believe what Charlie Kirk did as your enemy. I know that may seem ridiculous to someone dug so deep in the grain of a silo, but it is true. You have friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances, and plenty of neighbors who hold these beliefs. I know it’s scary to think that someone you have a relationship with may have a completely different set of political, cultural, or religious beliefs without you having any idea; but I promise it is the case. You could decide to sit everyone in your life down for a litmus test to ensure that none of them hold beliefs fundamentally differing from your own; or you could be rational and accept that no one must accept the beliefs of another and in a free society there is an expectation you will not let those differences get in the way of everyone’s fundamental natural rights.
In a free and open nation of over three hundred million people we will never come to a consensus on a variety of questions. Those inevitable differences do not have to hinder our ability to deal with the reality of living amongst one another in a country, with real issues requiring genuine deliberation between all. If we cannot reconcile living with each other we risk the irrevocable tear of the fabric of our world. To avoid the potential of a death spiral into oblivion we must rise above the instinct to cower.
Courage in this moment is the willingness to build bridges over the rapids. Reaching beyond the barriers we put up between each other which keep us from seeing one another not just as fellow citizens of these United States of America, but as brothers and sisters blessed with the gift of life as a human being on Earth.
We cannot ignore the fact that this chaos keeping us tense, these divisions keeping us from speaking beyond the social bounds we’ve kept ourselves in; are no accident. Unimaginable amounts of power is gained during times such as these. You don’t have to look too closely to see the consolidation of power happening globally amongst the few as the never ending drum beat of terror washes over the minds of the many.
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The example which I see as best illustrating the bizarro world we are in comes from Albania.
Where on September eleventh, the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama appointed the world’s first government minister that would be an A.I. program as apart of the effort to digitalize their government. The name of this new ‘minister’ as translated in English, is Diella Sun. While speaking in the Albanian Parliament of his new appointment, Prime Minister Rama said “Diella is the first member who is not physically present, but virtually created by artificial intelligence.” He went on to add, “Diella will be entrusted with all decisions on public tenders, making them 100 percent corruption free and every public fund submitted to the tender procedure will be perfectly transparent.”
A week after the appointment of this machine to the responsibility of issuing the public tender, the program was allowed to speak on the floor of the Parliament to address the opposition from human beings against her appointment. Diella spoke about how ‘it’ had over nine hundred and seventy-two thousand interactions with the citizens of Albania without issue. Saying, “Some have labelled me as unconstitutional because I am not a human being. That hurt me. Not for myself, but for the nine hundred and seventy-two thousand interactions I had with citizens whom I served as apart of e-Albania and also in relation to the thirty six thousand digital documents I issued to them. Let me remind you, the real danger to constitutions has never been machines but human decisions made by those in power. I am not here to replace human beings, but to help them. Indeed, I have no citizenship, but I have no ambitions or personal interests either. I only have data at my disposal, I am eager to learn new information and I have algorithms at my disposal, so that I can put all of this at the service of citizens, with impartiality, transparency, and without ever tiring.”
This move sparked backlash from the membership of the Albanian Parliament, with members opposing the new ‘minister’ on constitutional grounds. Members of the opposition party stormed the parliamentary lectern, throwing paperwork and trash towards the Prime Minister in an effort to stop the artificial intelligence program from speaking.
In February of two-thousand and twenty four, during the World Government Summit in Dubai, Prime Minister Edi Rama sat with one of the butchers of Iraq, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair on a panel entitled ‘Transforming Nations: Is Tech Our Solution?’ The two discussed the digitalization of the Albanian government, and how integration of a digital infrastructure through digital identities and other cloud based systems will assist in the ability for government to carry out it’s responsibilities. Prime Minister Blair said “This technology revolution gives us the opportunity to… reimagine the state itself.” Highlighting how digitalization can transform public services across healthcare, education, and social payments. Praising the fact that Prime Minister Rama has led the effort to digitalize the Albanian government. With over ninety-five percent of all public services in Albania being available through the online e-Albania platform.
Tony Blair and Edi Rama have a relationship which precedes this ‘noble’ effort to streamline the global public sector. Rama when speaking of the former British Prime Minister says, “I would not be prime minster or a person involved in politics without him.” He goes on to say “And before I knew him (Blair), he was my role model and inspiration to enter politics.” The two have close ties financially and politically. With organizations run by Blair and his wife carrying massive secret contracts with the Albanian government. Those organizations include the ‘Tony Blair Institute for Global Change’, Tony Blair’s organization which allows him to consult and affect change with world leaders from over forty five countries around the world. ‘Delivery Associates’, a consultancy firm founded in two-thousand and thirteen by a former member of the Blair administration, Sir Michael Barber. Who is also a close associate to the former Prime Minister. ‘Omnia Strategy LLP’ a law firm established in two-thousand and eleven founded by Cherie Blair, the wife of Tony. Omnia Strategy LLP has also won contracts from the Albanian government while the husband of the law firm’s founder serves as an advisor to the government and it’s leadership.
Again, this is no accident. The effort to digitalize the world is one championed by the powerful. Who wish to no longer allow for the risk factors that come with a free and open society.
Larry Ellison, CEO of the Oracle Corporation, and publicly, the wealthiest man in the world, said at a panel in Austin, Texas on 12 September 2024:
“The police will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording, watching and recording everything that is going on. Citizens will be on their best behavior because we're constantly recording and reporting everything that's going on. Uh, and it’s unimpeachable. The cars, you know, the cars have cameras on them, I think we have a squad car here someplace. Those kind of applications using AI, if we can use AI, and we’re using AI to monitor the video. And if there is a problem, AI will report the problem and report it to the appropriate person whether it’s the sheriff or the chief or whomever we need to take control of the situation. We have drones, if there is something going on in a shopping center a drone goes out there and gets there way faster than a police car. There’s no reason for, by the way, high speed chases between cars. You just have a drone follow the car, I mean it’s very, very, simple. A new generation of autonomous drones.”
Ellison is working in tandem with his close friend, former Prime Minister Blair, and a host of other high profile individuals who hold constitutional responsibilities to the public trust. Aiding those individuals in the creation of a digital world using this artificial intelligence infrastructure that he has been instrumental in creating. The example I relayed with Albania, and Edi Rama’s effort to digitalize their government is but one manifestation of this larger effort to digitalize the world in one central database. As Ellison spoke about on his 2025 World Government Summit panel with Prime Minister Blair; there needs to be one database for all “your (a government's) healthcare data, your electronic health records, your genomic data” to be unified on a data platform for the central A.I. model to pull from.
You don’t need to have read Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel, ‘Brave New World’ to see this brave new world being built around us. The degradation of our ability to converse across political divides, the atrophy of the creative human spirit, the commodification of the entire world, and the loss of the basic understanding of our natural rights are all symptoms of the larger sickness in our civilization run by maniacs; are all apart of the effort to get you to no longer believe in the human races ability to survive on it’s own. Controlled chaos to create a permission structure in the minds of the average citizen to accept the computer as a replacement to a human society governed by humans.
To counteract this world being built around us, we must refuse to accede to the degradation of our human spirit being forced upon us. Be radically loving, compassionate, and creative. Get to know your brethren beyond the silos we have all found comfort in. Who knows if we can save our government, but I am sure that if we are willing, we can save ourselves.
The legislative filing period was September 15th through the 19th. That is the time the membership of the New Hampshire House of Representatives is allotted to file legislation for the next year of this session. Having delved 3,278 words into this months letter already, making it the longest of the series, I will leave the extensive conversation on my filed legislation for next month. Which works for keeping the length of this article from going any farther, but also because all of the official text of the legislation and co-sponsorships will not be complete until at least the end of next month. The Office of Legislative Services has a grand total of six employees to handle all twelve-hundred bills proposed by the four-hundred and twenty-four members of the New Hampshire House, and Senate. It is an incredible bottleneck that takes time to squeeze through. I do my best to make it easier for them by writing all my legislation out prior to filing it, but they still need to re-write the bill using the official state template and ensure that all the bill’s content does not conflict with existing federal or state law. Which when dealing with as many bills as have been filed, can take a while to get done.
Despite the fact that my car broke down ten minutes outside of the State House on the fifteenth, I was still able to file six bills for the 2026 year of the 169th General Court, and at this point I don’t have an exact number on the bills I have co-sponsored for this session. The bills I proposed include legislation to create a tax on second homes that would generate revenue earmarked to go to the municipalities for property tax relief, a constitutional amendment to remove the $200 salary from the state constitution, and a bill to create an abutters notification when filing an intent to cut. I also filed a resolution calling for an end to the siege of Gaza, but unfortunately, Representative Paige Beauchmin had filed a resolution similar to it an hour before hand, and O.L.S. determined that I would not be able to file mine. Citing House rule 34b, which states that no duplicate legislation could be filed. I didn’t see my text as duplicative to hers, but there was no way to appeal the decision. Sadly, my resolution won’t get a hearing in the House. However, the 1,234 words I wrote still ring true. You can read them on my website. Some of the bills I cosponsored include a ban on digital identification filed by Representative Tom Mannion of Pelham, a bill to prohibit landlords from charging more than one application fee per tenant every twelve months, expanding the information provided to survivors of sexual assault regarding their existing rights, both of which were filed by Representative Ellen Read of Newmarket.
These are but some of the highlights of the work being done by Representatives who truly care about serving the constituents that elected them to serve. 2026 will be a trying year for us all, and will be an especially trying year for the legislature. Instead of cowering and crying about how bad it will be, I have decided to approach this year with optimism. What is the point of serving in the legislature if you are there simply to propose legislation which will never pass? I would never claim that all the bills I have proposed or co-sponsored will pass, but I am here to ensure that they do, even if in the end they do not.
The people of this State deserve a legislature which not only represents, but serves them and their interests. That is why I ran for office. Whether serving as apart of the minority party or not, that is what I choose to do with the time I have been given under the golden dome. Despite the insanity of the world, I choose to remain optimistic not out of a blind sense of faith, but because of the spirit of humanity which I see persisting. Even up against all the power in the world human beings are still as compassionate, caring, and thoughtful as they have ever been. The smile of a passerby, holding the door for a stranger, the boisterous laughter which comes from a good joke - the small moments of joy that can always be found. Even in the darkest of times.
They want you to fret, and you cannot. They want you to lose your creativity, but you must not. I am not here to tell you what to believe, I simply want you to believe. To not look away from the intrigue that can be found within each day we are blessed to wake up with our hearts still beating. I want you to reject the notion that nothing ever happens for the reality that something is always happening.
The mysteries of the world are waiting to be solved. The intrigue of life continues on. We will find ourselves out of this hole one way or the other. Either by burying ourselves to death, or climbing out.
I can’t speak for you, but I’m climbing.
