Looking at it now I can see it was bound to happen. This thing is just too big. I wouldn't be able to hold the reins of it for long -- the Residential Industrial Movement. And that goes for even the philosophical reins. There's simply too many other great thinkers for one man's mind to control it all. Others were bound to pick up the reins and go with them.
The reins, of course, are those straps that attach to a horse's mouth and end in a loose handful of leather designed to fit in a stagecoach driver's hands. With them he's able to guide the progress of the stagecoach via the open road across the country, depending on the horse's motive power for the vehicle to be pulled. The horse needs that guidance because it can't be expected to do all the work, and they'd just as soon not get lost anywhere where there might not be grain and water for the night.
For a time -- being the one to announce the founding principles of the Residential Industrial Movement (RIM) -- I was able to keep the reins securely in my hands and guide things. But when it expanded quickly past the local setting, going statewide, then national, at that point it went too many different directions.
There's a big difference between local, state, and national, with the key thing being distance and size. One man, with only self-declared authority (self-declared but rightly held when he is the philosophical father), can't keep the reins forever. The quick expansion means that others will immediately step in. So unless you have a network of very violent underlings or access to a big electronic board and enforcement powers, you have no choice but to step aside.
Those who've known the most about statecraft express the same lesson: You either need a police force, a military, or at the very least an honor system with strong coercive penalties to maintain social coherence.
I'm not ruing things, I'm really not, especially my own fate in this whole arrangement. It is after all very early in the RIM -- these are the Wild West days, and it's bound to stretch and groan quite a bit more before it settles down; these are the growing pains.
Before I go any farther, let me state this for the record: I will not be responsible for any debts, violations of patent laws, trespassing on others' property, sabotage, or unlawful violence other than my own.
I had to say that because, frankly, there are some unsavory characters in the RIM, some people definitely taking things too far, and seeking various advantages by piling on and even sabotaging mainstream industrialists. At this point, with my present stock of weaponry, Grandpa's old guns, I feel that I must disavow all violence, and I do.
There is some mid-level activity that I don't necessarily support yet I feel can be justified as making a positive difference. And that of course has to do with certain RIM members absconding with planes and trains out of city parks, railroad museums, and at the entrance to airports around the country. They worked once and no one cared; there's no reason they shouldn't be returned to active service if they're needed for the common good. The key to using them is getting them fitted again for service. Some need a little and some need a lot. Most of them need just a few things. Usually you put in a new firing pin and the other stuff falls into place.
My basic take on the RIM is that I support it. But I can see the bad with the good, meaning I'm able to stand back and view the whole situation with a mixture of pride and frustration. But I know the Wild West will prevail! I might've been sheriff for a while but they've moved way past me. The reins have definitely slipped out of my hands. As for being sheriff, I'm buried on Boot Hill. I still have a role to play here at the local level, but for the rest of it, the reins are really out of my hands.
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