Reform or Revolution: Twelve Points

If we fail to restore our democratic republic and overhaul the Constitution, the result may well be revolution, civil war, and tyranny 

The United States of America has always been an imperfect union striving to, much of the time but certainly not in every instant, realize noble ideals from its many struggles for noble causes. We don’t have much time left, however, before we destroy ourselves in what historian Timothy Snyder calls “superpower suicide.” Corruption is rampant throughout American government, and the American people are for the most part in denial over how severe corruption is or simply do not care. Corruption flows like water through our politics. It affects the Republicans far more today than the Democrats, but the Democrats engage as well. The further one moves away from the moderate, pragmatic center to the edges of Right and Left, we encounter ideological rigidity with self-righteous extremists demonizing each other. Even those over in the same quadrant are busy demonizing their otherwise natural political allies in never-ending orgies of cannibalistic splittism amid endless fracturing over ideological purity to anachronistic belief systems from the 18th and 19th Centuries. It is time we unite to stop this bloody damn nonsense.

We must overhaul our Constitution. A constitutional convention would be wise. There is much to must accomplish in a short time to restore our constitutional democratic republic. Time is short, however, and partisan gridlock so severe and acrimonious having a such a constitutional convention seems highly unlikely at this time. Not only that, but the underlying issues are systemic and must include reforms to our economics, finances, and energy infrastructure as well. What follows are twelve proposed steps: Continue reading →

A Dream of books being given away

Had the strangest dream. It felt both delightful and mysterious. Within this dream mountains of books were being given away. The bookstore was a strange blend of Medieval stone, iron, and wood with clean, ultramodern minimalist architecture. People were hurrying in and out with armloads of books. Some lingered, stood about, sat around, puckering up chins and lips in odd, almost comedic facial expressions while alternately plucking at and caressing pages of paper. Books, books, ¡BOOKS! everywhere here in New York City! Twas a mad, merry frenzy of books as if it was a scene in some weird Neo-Disney Noir movie. Continue reading →

A.S. while on a trip to Maine

Jotted down while on the mail boat ferrying us between the Cranberry Isles of Acadia

After Silence 
what 
do 
you 
hear
Big Cranberry Island 
and
you
Islesford

 

William Dudley Bass
Wednesday 5 August 2026
Monday 14 September 2026
Islesford/Little Cranberry Island, ME
Shoreline/Seattle, WA
USA
Earth
Sol

Copyright © 2026 by William Dudley Bass. All Rights Reserved by the Author & his Descendants until we Humans establish Wise Stewardship over and for our Earth and Solarian Commons. Thank you.

 

Dream: Walking with the Beautiful Blackbird Man

Being with Ashley Bryan in Islesford, Maine one Autumn Day

Foto of Ashley Bryan from the book, Beautiful Blackbird. Cropped and modified from an archival image found on the book’s back cover from Photographer Peter Ralston archival color ink print from 2010.

Awoke Sunday morning on the day before Labor Day from the strangest dream. The dream itself unfolded as a real, everyday depiction of normal reality. There wasn’t any fantasy, syfy weirdness, or dissolving boundaries between dimensions and destinations. The whole dream took place on Little Cranberry Island on the edge of Acadia National Park in the State of Maine. In this dream I lived in Islesford, a village or hamlet within the Town of Cranberry Isles. The town spans three main islands and a few small ones. It’s all part of Hancock County, too. And the weather was beautiful with the wistful nostalgia of long ago good times as Summer turned with the Wheel of the Year into Autumn.

Frost was in the air. The sun felt warm even with a sweater on. Twas early Fall still, but the leaves had already fallen from the hardwoods. More likely they fell due to recent high winds as much as from the chill. In this dream I walked and talked for long hours with the late Ashley Bryan. Yes, he’s been dead since February 2022. Never met the man, unfortunately. Indeed, I’ve not ever heard of this gentle genius until my own visit to Islesford, Maine, from Seattle, Washington. Continue reading →