Have you never seen a well pump?
When it is pulled up it goes down, and when it is let go it comes up.
It is pulled by men
but does NOT pull the men.

Whether it rises or falls, the well-pump does not go against men.
It is the same with rules of propriety, righteousness, laws and measures
of the Three Rulers and the Five Emperors who excelled
not because they held the same views of those of the present
but because of their capacity to govern.
We might compare them to haws, pears, oranges and lemons
–they are different in flavor
but all can be savored.
So it is with the rules
of propriety and righteousness and laws
–they change with the age.

If you were to take a monkey
and dress it in the Duke of Zhou’s robes
it will bite them and it will not be content
until it has got rid of them.
If you observe the difference
between antiquity and the present time,
it is not less than that between the monkey
and the Duke of Zhou.

Zhuangzi by Zhuang Zhou, trans. Hyun Höchsmann, Yang Guorong, The Revolution of Heaven

Some musings on the first day of 2026…

The segment quoted above directs the reader to a manually operated water pump. Usually seen nowadays in a forest preserve, the Zhuangzi states the obvious. A pump serves the needs of the human operator. This intention is what is meant by “pump.” Operating up and down a pump supplies what is needed at the time of use for the operator. And so it is with laws, with rules and regulations, with public institutions. Not unlike a pump… The individual well-being, thriving of each member of the body politic is the rationale for the tools by which society is governed/managed.

Moreover the buck stops somewhere, and Harry Truman is famous for saying “the buck stops here.” Decisions make a big difference and someone will make them.

Both parties anticipate getting away with putting forward candidates for high office without regard for their capacity for decision making. (That’s not the same as electability.) Joe Biden was a weak leader and it was disingenuous pretending he was strong enough for another term. As for the candidate put forward by the other party — he was and is a monkey in the Duke of Zhou’s robes.

The monkey always bites to obtain what it desires. This one always will…

Resolved for the New Year, 2026:

• Only candidates qualified by their proven discipline, a track record of mindful decision making.
• To remove the biting monkey and his handlers by any means.