No one is more anxious for this to be over than me personally, unless it’s you. And this time people showed up in record numbers over concerns about what’s next…regardless of who wins on Tuesday?
Like most of you I can’t wait for today (November 3rd) to come and pass. What a cruel, demeaning, and ugly process it’s become for the rank-and-file citizen who has to listen to desperate politicians who pander the age-old sentiment about leading, and wanting to serve their fellow man.
Bull!
You think Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd spent all those years in the Senate for the sake of serving their fellow man? Hell no. They spent all those years because it made them powerful, rich, and secure in their old age. You can’t beat the perks.
It never changes, of course, and it hasn’t changed now. And whichever one of you writes to remind me that Press Pros is a sports site and has no business of invoking opinion about politics, or the process of exercising democracy…you’re going to have to suffer for just this once, or bask in your own naivety. Frustration, in this case, has its priority!
I voted this morning, in my hometown of Covington, and while I expected a big turnout, it was bigger than I even imagined. I was there at 6:30 and the line outside the door was already 50 people deep outside the Eagles banquet room. By the time they opened the doors there were fifty people voting, and 50 people waiting.
“I didn’t even vote the last time,” said a familiar face standing in line as I left the building for home.
The buzz among those waiting was not about bushels per acre or the football playoffs, like other, normal years. This time there was little or no buzz at all, further signaling the concern over the importance of today’s election and its impact on the future of the country, and I suspect…individual liberties.
I knew a lot of the people personally as I scanned the room. I knew their history, their values, and their hopes for the future. Without a word being said they were there with concerns over taxes, bigger government, and respect for law and authority – values ingrained since birth. A deputy sheriff and a police officer were there in line, and they both got approving nods of appreciation from those waiting with them.
Some were young, voting for the first time, their faces bright, and nervous with anticipation over their choice.
In Covington the prevailing issue isn’t Covid 19, or even Obama Care. It’s the economy, and one’s opportunities to determine his or her future without government in their pocket. Most want less, not more, ‘help’ from Washington.
No one mentioned being divided, or unity. What unifies small towns like mine is self-determination, and neighbor helping neighbor…if they need help. They’ve lived that way for years, and by instinct…not mandate.
It’s not one group against the other, where one group believes they’re getting screwed because they’re not getting their share of the other group’s money.
It’s not about promises from politicians invested in getting elected, or from lobbyists who tirelessly work the system. The only system they know in towns like Covington is just plain work – tireless work – and the opportunity to enjoy and share the fruits of that labor as ‘they’ see fit.
Is that way of life at risk? Without saying, most of those who stood in line with me this morning were mindful – the reason for a record turnout. This time it wasn’t civic duty, but genuine concern.
Concern, I sensed, over a trend in 2020. That being…expect what your country can do for you, compared to what John Kennedy spoke of in 1960, when he said, “Ask what you can do for the country.” Today, he’d get laughed out of Washington.
Two distinctly different choices, traditional and contemporary…why people were voting on Tuesday.