MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

After ten articles which have highlighted some causes of the Revolutionary War, we'll pause this week to show some applications, as a transfer of power began between the mother land and her subjects across the Atlantic.

Until the conclusion of the French and Indian War in 1763, salutary or benign neglect had been the practice of Britain toward the colonies. Economic systems and methods of governance had been developed in accordance with royal charters; so in most respects, Colonials were free to practice self-governance according to English common law.

L&T Publisher Earl Watt

It’s amazing to see how people come together when faced with adversity.

Seward County rallies when facing challenges like fires, or even in fun when we put our best runner against the best runner of Olney, England in the International Pancake Race.

But it’s not very often when the public rallies to fight an injustice of an unneeded and unwarranted tax increase like the one passed Sept. 15 by the Seward County Commission.

There is no need to rehash what we already know — the tax was unpopular and supported by elected officials who refused to listen to the public.

THE POSTSCRIPT, Carrie Classon

I woke yesterday morning, and my cat, Felix, was nowhere to be found.

“Felix! Where are you?”

In the morning, I put milk in my coffee and a little milk in a tiny bowl for Felix, and I put both my coffee and his milk in the microwave just long enough for his milk to be warm. (My mother says Felix is spoiled. What does she know?)

But Felix was not around for his milk. Finally, I found him hiding under a living room chair. I poked him, “Hey, Felix!”

GUEST COLUMN, J. Basil Dannebohm

In his book, "Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle," Chris Hedges writes:

"Today cinematic, political, and journalistic celebrities distract us with their personal foibles and scandals. They create our public mythology. Acting, politics, and sports have become, as they were in Nero's reign, interchangeable. In an age of images and entertainment, in an age of instant emotional gratification, we neither seek nor want honesty or reality ... The ability to amplify lies, to repeat them and have surrogates repeat them in endless loops of news cycles, gives lies and mythical narratives the aura of uncontested truth. We become trapped in the linguistic prison of incessant repetition."

Incessant repetition is key. Demagogues have leveraged it throughout history.