Can November 4th Come Too Soon?

I cast my first vote in a presidential election in 1972. The choices were Richard Nixon and George McGovern – yeah. If I had known the truth about events leading up to the vote (Watergate) it would have been even more distressing to enter the election process. Ironically, my wedding took place on the day of the Watergate break in.
As I have continued to cast votes in succeeding elections – yes every one of them – I have observed some significant changes. I have often been puzzled by the successes and failures of the various candidates. Some times things have seemed so promising only to dissolve when the new president tried to fulfill the duties of the office - Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush; while at other times things have succeeded when expectations were far lower – Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Some presidents’ high moral and spiritual character traits seemed to do little to help them succeed – Carter; while others with significant lapses of character were able to govern with significant accomplishments to their credit – Clinton. It makes me doubt the word of that great American president Andrew Shepherd/Michael Douglas who claimed that “being president is entirely about character.”
I believe that it is not character, but image that defines the president and/or presidency. The success in the election process is to create an image that is appealing to a “majority” of voters. This is especially the case if you can be the one who establishes the image of your opponent. George W. Bush was able to both establish his image in the first election as the folksy but “presidential” candidate, versus the stiff impersonal Al Gore. In the second election “W” was able to appear both compassionate and resolute in comparison to the dour faced “flip-flopper” John Kerry.
In our current election we have watched unabashed efforts by each of the candidates to claim an image which will define their run to the Whitehouse and VP residency. Obama the visionary, McCain the patriotic hero, Biden the unassuming father and statesman, and Palin the Bulldog Soccer Mom. Three of the four claim to be Mavericks. Who is and who isn’t is up for debate, but the images have been struck. In the end, the election may hinge upon the success of imprinting those images upon the voters’ minds. The most unfortunate aspect in all of this is not that the losers will have failed to convey the image, but that the winners will have to live and try to succeed with their image.
I say this because the voters may select the next president/vice-president on the basis of their being visionary, or forceful, or intensely patriotic, and most of all a “maverick,” but Washington may not have a tolerance for such an image/persona. The problems faced by party leaders in forging a workable “bail-out” this past week is evidence that our political parties are internally diverse. What devastated the Carter presidency has become the rule today. Political infighting and a lack of party unity may doom the process for any of the candidates. While the president will win the national election, he must serve with the cooperation of 435 members of congress who see their elections as local, whether they are statewide or by districts.
The trump cards in this process have been slowly and surreptitiously removed from the deck over the past four decades. Political conventions used to include lengthy debates about the party platform, a part of the process that no longer exists. The party’s direction is now determined by the individual candidates whose chief concern is the image they convey. There is no common cause, save the electing of the person you named at your convention, around which to rally. When decisions need to be made those deciding the positions to be taken make those decisions on the basis of the image of the leaders versus the expressed desires of the voters back home. There is no pre-determined position which the party as a whole has affirmed. Those parties do not consist of a group of people who are of one mind on a wide range of issues, but upon a shifting set of alliances forged to deal with each of those issues individually. Each party must work to be “bi-partisan” internally. It’s no wonder they can’t work across party lines, since they don’t even function well within party lines.
The day of the individual has won out over any commitment to be part of a greater entity beyond Election Day. The hollow sound you hear is the echo of empty promises that can’t last when the image collides with reality in the halls of congress after this election ends on November 4th (and the next one begins on the 5th). Yes, our government will withstand the trials of this election and many in the future, but it will always fall short of what is truly needed. Look and think before you vote, too many have quit thinking after joining a political party years ago; and don’t expect your single action of casting a vote to solve the nation’s, and certainly the world’s needs.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
(Psalm 118:8-9)

Driving on an Island

This past weekend we spent two nights on Drummond Island, located in Lake Huron along the shipping channel between Sault Ste. Marie and the open water of Huron. It is the second largest freshwater lake island in the country and is accessed by a car ferry from De Tour Village, MI. It is a quaint and quiet place, far different from touristy Mackinac Island, an hour or so West-SW. It is worth a visit and would be a treat to tour by motorcycle.

What I found interesting were the number of road signs reading "dead end." Wouldn't it have sufficed to have one large sign posted as you disembarked the ferry which reads - "This is an Island, all roads are dead ends" - and save a fortune in the road sign budget? Unless you get your martinis "shaken, not stirred," you probably are limited to exiting the island the same way you entered it, floating on a big flat boat, not driving your chevy through a 120 foot deep, 3/4 mile wide channel.

In speaking with one of the permanent residents of the island I discovered that the Ferry schedule adjusts in Jan-March each year. The boats only run the channel on weekends. Miss the boat on Sunday afternoon and be our guest until Friday morning. It's really not that bad weatherwise on the Island. The temps are low, well below zero, but it's a "dry cold." I guess you could freeze to death or die of thirst.

It is a fun place to visit and pick up your very own pudding stone.

Furniture as Weapon

A news report from St. Petersburg, Russia, told of a wife who, as she angrily left the apartment she shared with her uncaring husband, jerked the control arm on the end of the sofa upon which her inebriated husband was seated. She returned three hours later from shopping to find that the sofa, which folded up into the wall like a "Murphy Bed," had, in fact done so as a result of her moving the control arm. Her husband had been folded into the storage space and had died. I have been reflecting on the possibility of furniture as weapon and my musings have led to the following list, with more to follow, I'm sure.

Dirty Harry no longer needs a Smith and Wesson: "This is a 44" Sears and Roebuck, the most powerful recliner in the world. Do you feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?"

Policeman to wife: "Ma'am, we have reason to believe you are in danger. We searched your husband's pick-up after a routine traffic stop and found a swivel rocker in the back with the serial number filed off."

Woman to investigator: "Of course it was an accident. I was vacuuming the cushions and the love seat just went off."

Suicidal man: "Stay back! I have a card table and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Dr. Phil: "What kind of parent lets her children play with a loaded rocking chair?"

To an intruder: "With a scatter rug at this range I can't possibly miss."

Man explaining his victim's serious injuries: "It's not my fault. I only intended to scare him with the grandfather clock, but it was midnight and it struck 12 times on its own."

Defense Lawyer: "It was obviously a crime of passion. If it had been premeditated he would have used the sofa instead of a love seat."

CIA: "It was obviously Al Qaeda. How do you explain him being smothered by an afgan?