Tinkering with Ideas
Tinkering with Ideas J. Michael Pontious M.D. April 20, 2026 I like to tinker with ideas. Not in a grand, philosophical sense—more like taking them apart on my workbench to see how they are put together. Most don’t survive the process. They sound fine at a distance, but up close they have missing parts, loose screws, and the occasional outright fabrication. I also have a nasty habit of saying out loud what other people are quietly thinking and hoping someone else will put it out there first. That tends to irritate some folks, especially the ones who prefer their ideas unexamined and neatly packaged. Intellectually I suppose that it is easier…but I find it dishonest. Much like our current political theater (because calling it governance would require a level of coherence that simply isn’t there). What we’re watching is less a functioning system, it looks more like a “scripted rehearsal” where everyone is deeply committed to their lines, even when the plot has completely unraveled....