Too many people can be a cause for dread, or a cause for celebration.

Pictured is a climate awareness event I went to at Peace Arch Park on the US Canadian border a few years back.
What one does, when waiting in line, can determine whether there are too many people or not.

One time as I was at the US border crossing and the line was long. I thought, "oh no, a long boring wait," but then someone, in line, saw my bicycle helmet and ask where I'd ridden from. We got into a very nice conversation. It wasn't cars, but pedestrians waiting inside the customs building.

Pretty soon, almost too soon, the wait was over and the conversation ended as we went our separate ways.

Does the smartphone reduce people's freedom from being on call 24/7?

I think not. It depends on how it's used.

I never liked using the phone that much in the era of the landline. Being a bit shy I was afraid I'd call someone at a bad time. Back then, I preferred to write letters and put them in the mail. I also favored face to face conversation.

Today, I have a smartphone, but it doesn't ring often as my connection to people tends to be through things like Facebook posts that aren't necessarily dealt with immediately. My phone doesn't ring often and notifications can be turned off.

I don't have to be "on call" all the time as my life tends to not have those kind of responsibilities. Sometimes I forget to bring my phone with me when I go out.

Ironically, I'm getting to like the phone more these days as voicemail and texting helps me get around my initial shyness. Voicemail means I can leave a message without bothering folks at a bad time.

My friends and me tend to text before we call. I often do engage in long phone conversations after being in touch by text and knowing the conversation is welcome.

I'm a deep thinker so when I do have conversations, they are often in depth and somewhat long winded.

Much of leftist politics is about getting closer to even, wealth wise. I'm more about sustainable living and other values beyond just economic wealth.

I tend to lean to the left, but in many ways I'm not typical of leftist politics (as I see it). Much of leftist politics is about striving for a more fair distribution of wealth; getting even, or at least getting closer to even. Getting even has several related connotations, in some cases aggressive like "I'm going to get even."

Yes, I'm for a more fair distribution including being pro graduated taxes, but my focus is on sustainable living. My focus is more on things that provide for health, sanity and a sustainable environment.

Wealth, as defined by economics, is not always a good thing so just trying to get even with folks who have more wealth is less relevant to me.

Yes, we need enough to survive, but I'm okay if there are people who have more. In some cases, I realize that people, who own businesses, farms and so forth, may need a lot more as the wealth is the business; so to speak. For instance wealth is often the buildings and things that the business uses to serve the public.

My main interest is promoting what I think of as quality of life. I know that is harder, than dollar bills, to measure objectively, but that is still my focus.

Things like quality of relationships with friends, neighbors and community matter to me. Things like the ability to contribute to a better world and low stress are things that matter to me. Enjoying life matters to me as well. Not having a lot of resentment matters as well.

At the Texas border

There's debate in the news between Texas and the US government over who should be in charge of patrolling the border.

Aside from the legal issues, there's also this ethical question. When Texas authorities were controlling that section of the border where those people drowned, did they just let the drowning happen and not try to save the lives of folks they don't want in this country anyway?

More chaos from both the left and the right if there is another Trump Presidency.

Donald Trump goes from campaign victory, among Republicans in Iowa, to being on trial in Federal Court where he talks back to the judge and almost gets ordered out of the courtroom.

This scenario; a product of the rebellious streak in American culture. There's a rebelliousness against bosses, the system, bureaucrats, or whatever. This can lead to innovation, but it can also lead to lawlessness. I fear that another Trump Presidency could embolden more lawlessness and chaos from both the left and the right.

Interesting to note that Republican candidate Nikki Haley has similar fears about potential chaos from another Trump presidency.

Remember, even the Chop Zone in Seattle happened during Trump's watch.

People forget that the Chop Zone in Seattle and much of the unrest against police happened during the Trump Presidency; 2020. Biden is more into de escalating the situation. Trump antagonized people on purpose and they pushed back. Things do seem to be a bit calmer today. I fear that if Trump were back in office, both the left and the right would rise up in anger and most of us would be caught in the middle.

Walking the walk if you talk the talk. Even lots of conservatives will respect that.

I have noticed, over the years, that some people, who call themselves conservatives, still like my lifestyle of voluntary simplicity, bicycling and so forth. They say, "if it's your choice, more power to you." They tend to not want government imposing this on people. They tend to stress personal responsibility. I feel that I can build a bridge toward some conservatives, at least. Useful in the case of swing voters for sure.

This relates to my idea that people's personal choices, in the marketplace, are big drivers in how society turns out. I tend to blame corporations and institutions much less than many other other liberals do.

I know that corporations aren't totally without blame. It's a vicious cycle, but I do think people, in mass, do have power. People often follow consumerism like sheep. Advertising, laws and the layout of society does have it's influence. As for advertising, I don't watch much TV or go to many movies. I'm out of touch with much of pop culture.

Quite a few conservatives think that most liberals just want a handout and then many oppressed folks will just squander what they have on drugs, aggressive behavior and crime.

I know it's all quite complicated and there is no one answer, but I do see connections between the concept of personal responsibility and building bridges to the wider public; including at least some of the folks who call themselves conservative.

I just thought of a sound byte. "birth control is better than genocide."

I just thought of a sound byte. "birth control is better than genocide."

Another thought about various countries. "Societies that accept diversity are better for the world than societies that so many people are trying to flee from."

Population growth, immigration versus infrastructure.

I recently heard on the radio a good take on the immigration issue from some Canadian economists. They talked about a "population trap." A big question is whether we are building enough housing and infrastructure for people and how much are we using; size of housing, automobile dependency and so forth.

Here in USA, we cloud the issue as the right wing demonizes immigrants themselves while the left wing cries racism. We tend to ignore the logistics of making it work.

Is housing affordable? How are we handling traffic or are we better off relying more on public transit? Are there too many people, versus what we can provide for them as well as ourselves, or does the new human energy, from immigrants, help us develop the infrastructure we need?

Much of it is about planning.

In Canada, there is lots of land, but still the infrastructure is even smaller than ours. 400,000 new folks new moved to Canada last year plus 800,000 temporary student visas; nearly twice the flow from past decades. That's a big number trying to be absorbed into a country with smaller population than USA.

In some cases, cutting back on student visas means universities might go broke so there is that issue also.

In some cases homeowners benefit if home prices skyrocket, but renters and new homebuyers suffer; people divided. This is mostly my own thinking not all from the show.

Both USA and especially Canada have land, but indigenous cultures like to preserve their ways of life; especially in Canada. That often requires lower population densities for fishing, hunting and so forth; not to mention mainstream culture preserving a car based society needing room, in developed areas, for parking.

Add to this the fact that much of the rest of the world is becoming unlivable due to authoritarian governments and theocracies so lots of folks are knocking on the doors of our countries.