Deep Breath. .

 

"Good Times, Bad Times . . .

     

You Know I've Had My Share"  

(Led Zeppelin 1969)

After a lot of ominous news and scary headlines - including some of my own somber assessments of our country - it occurred to me that it's impossible to live in a constant state of fear; some balance is necessary. Humans, by nature, are optimistic (albeit sometimes with zero reason!) so this is my effort to restore a little balance here. 

For example . . .

Every election is touted as the most important one ever and I suppose in their own way they are. This one is certainly different and consequential and is especially true with recent electoral upheaval. We went from one with two unpopular, geriatric candidates to one with the oldest candidate ever (clearly, also with advanced dementia) who happens to be a convicted felon and an insurrectionist. Oh yeah, he also had two (very poor) assassination attempts made against him - by Republicans. Worst of all, he's a guy who puts ketchup on his steak.  

Versus a woman of color who is alleged to be a "radical leftist", a poor campaigner whose late mother was  - gasp - a Hindu, her father a Bermudan (both highly educated) and she has a Jewish husband. OMG!

It has proven to be a very interesting - and exhausting - ride.

Perhaps a little history and perspective on political life in the USA might is in order.

There was a time when the earth was young - and so was I – that being able to vote was the first sign that you were no longer a kid- topped only by turning 21 (for obvious reasons in Minnesota ) You could really look forward to making your vote count for God, country, and apple pie. 

Now? Going by only 65% voter turnout, it's apparently too a great burden for many. (Although given that we mostly vote for the candidate we fear or dislike the least maybe that's not so bad.)

                             

My first presidential election was 1968, Humprey v Nixon. I was a junior in college and I honestly don’t remember who I voted for but probably Humphrey. He was a hometown boy and “everyone” knew Nixon was a crook. Also, because my parents were strong Democrats (according to them Roosevelt had saved their lives after all.) They were not, however, what you would call passionate. To them - and most people? - it was just an election; you wanted your guy (of course it was a guy) to win but if not? Shoulder shrug, another election is coming along in four years and not much will really change – and it usually didn’t.

So here we are - again - with people calling this one “the most important election in history.” Perhaps it is but let’s think about that.

Anthropocentric temporality. Fancy words that mean humans  think (probably because of our relatively short life spans) that everything that happens during our brief time on this spinning top is the most important ever, both good and bad. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise since we humans are, after all, the center of the universe – especially us baby boomers. Let me give you an example.

My dad was born in 1914, mom 1919. My dad grew up on a farm and plowed fields behind a horse then he drove Model T Fords and later Chrysler's; they lived through the Spanish flu; he and mom listened to Frank Sinatra on a new-fangled radio; had B&W tv,  later a color set; they lived through the Great Depression,  WWII and Korean war. They watched two of their kids go to southeast Asia for our fatuous “fight to defend democracy” there. They – well at least Mom - flew in jet airplanes and in 1969 they both watched a man walk on the moon live on TV. I would add that was when America did big things well.

Hey, who says we don't still do big things? We have Facebook and Instagram! 

Fast forward a generation: I grew up on rock and roll on AM/FM radio (now streaming); drove a ‘59 DeSoto;  got to use a push button, cordless phone; have Google and now a cell phone/computer thingy on which I can watch streaming TV. I too watched men walk on the moon in ’69 (on a color TV with a remote!) Oh yeah, and we still fly on jets (sadly no Jetson flying cars.) I and my cohort had our own wars and I watched my kid go off to fight in the in the fatuous 20 year “War on Terror” in the Middle East  And, of course, we lived through the Great Recession and pandemic, which sucks.

Speaking of big things - the magnificient '59 DeSoto!

All that said, over the last 110 years whose lives saw more change - at least more important changes - mom and dad or me? Yeah, I think mom and dad win by quite a bit. (And probably more than my kids so far too.)

My point in this long-winded disquisition is to hopefully make the case that change and difficulties confront every generation - some generations with more problems than others, of course - yet somehow we always manage to stumble through.

I do my share of bad mouthing us Americans for the many stupid things we say and do and rightly so - plus we do have a really screwed up political system. And yet . . . we are usually smarter than we look (or at least some of us are.)

Make no mistake, this is a very consequential election - the old candidate is frighteningly unfit (and unworthy) for the job. But remember what Winston Churchill said about us: "Americans will always do the right thing - only after they have tried everything else."

Deep breath - we did it in 2020 and I think we will do the right thing again this year.

9 Days until voting (If you haven't already)

(Lest there is any confusion on where I stand) 

 Some music to help you through . . .

I Can See Clearly Now     Johnny Nash