Have I Forgotten to Mention Trump?
The political season is in its final innings here on the South End. Down at the Diner the debates continue unabated, but practically everywhere else, we’re wore down, depleted, dejected and pretty much exhausted with the whole damn thing. Even the Pilot House, once Hotbed Central for lively late night alcohol fueled discussions, even the Pilot House has turned its short span of attention to the basketball tournaments and the baseball scores.
The tulips are coming in early up north in the fields of La Conner. I was thinking maybe going there instead of the caucus this Saturday. Last time I went to a caucus it was Carter running against Reagan. All the local politicos were in attendance. And me and the mizzus. We never really understood the process and we never went back. I like voting in private, to tell you the truth, not in small groups of people I don’t really know. The tulips, I get tulips. They come in early some years and some years late and rarely, but it happens, they bloom on time. This year they’re way early and the Festival, that two week traffic jam miles and miles long, well, it’s going to be pretty much after the harvest.
I spoze the folks stuck in the colorful backup out in the flats can while away the hours arguing whether global warming is to blame or if the low price of gas is a blessing or not. The big tour buses can haul up the city folks for a slow creep through the countryside and hope for a few fields of blazing candy color seen vaguely through the rain. Us locals pretty much avoid the whole show now. You’ve seen one tulip field, you’ve kind of got the idea.
I wish I could say the same about elections. I’ve seen a few, but … this one is very very strange. Maybe even troubling. Says a little too much about my neighbors, for sure, but hey, that’s the price of democracy. You admire a trash talking billionaire who thinks political correctness is just some liberals’ way to keep racism from rearing its ugly head, well, you got a new hero. You think all Moslems are terrorists and all Hispanics are on welfare, you got your candidate. You looking for a bully for the presidential bully pulpit, he’s got your back. They say we get the leader we deserve. This year we’ll find out if a rich reality show money grubbing pitchman is that person. If he is, I’m gonna lose a lot of my faith in this democracy. And in my neighbors.
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Speaking of bully pulpits, what ever happened to “speak softly and carry a big stick?” Is it now twitter truncated to a brusque “speak loud!!!?” Then since it’s too darn much work to carry anything these days, lob an afterthought onto the word string for a strong finish like “loser, bad, bad, worst crooked Hillary… stick.”