Well, we certainly did that on numerous fronts in the last two weeks. We found out simultaneously what awful and marvelous shape the country is in. Two little known former governors are now within a heartbeat of the Presidency.
The largest release of balloons in the western world happened displacing enough oxygen to lead to possible fainting of thousands. More superlatives saturated the arenas than could be catalogued. Dire predictions were present in plentitude. Promises were made that will be impossible to keep. Russia may become our IT supervisor. NATO will be nervous for the next months.
The happiest history of all was that there were not major incidents; the police of both Cleveland and Philadelphia are to be congratulated. And, by the way, the candidates made history, too. We have the first woman to be chosen to run for the highest office in the land by a major party in the United States, and one who can repair all our problems by himself. Those are just a few of the things that caught our breath.
Now we can get down to the business at hand. Who will direct the ship of state for the next four years? It was interesting to note that with all the turmoil in the UK, they managed to change their government in less than a week without spending a billion pounds on TV ads.
The cover of the January 30 issue of The Economist, I’m afraid, says it all: “The Brawl Begins.” The last 18 months have been the prelims of the main event. The “undercard,” as it is called in the cage fighting game. In the halcyon days of happy campaigning everyone took a summer snooze after the conventions and the official mashup started in Detroit on Labor Day. Not so today. Neither side took a breather. The bus left the next morning for the Democrats and Trump Air has not let the jets even cool down.
It must have been pleasing to all of us that Donald saw fit to demean our fair city. How inhospitable of us to allegedly suspend climate control in the Hotel Roanoke. No wonder he threatened not to pay the bill. It worked in Atlantic City.
One thing can be said about the upcoming months: they will not be dull. We can hope that it will not be an insult-fest. If all the energy expended on lambasting the opponents could be devoted to a sensible discussion of the issues and policy that must be implemented, then we might have reason for optimism. We can hold our collective breaths and probably will see the nation turn blue (no political pun intended) before Election Day.
If you go back to the speeches made, and there were some memorable ones, the most effective were not those filled with invective and bombast, but reason and rationality. One of the most surprising was Michael Bloomberg, no stranger to the big stage and someone who could have been a contender if he were a member of a major party. After presenting his thoughts in a moderate and thoughtful way, he emphasized the importance of voting as did the redoubtable Ted Cruz. One of the worst things that could happen is apathy replacing action. While the choices may not suit the majority of us, there have been few times when voting was more important. We hear that every four years, but this time there is real truth to it.
Although we may be exhausted before the opening bell has sounded, we have to participate in the fray or sacrifice the right to complain after the smoke clears. Given our love of complaining about the government, no one will want to pass up that unpleasant pastime.
Recent and current events prove Winston Churchill was right: Democracy is the worst possible form of government . . . except all the rest.
Hayden Hollingsworth