Decompression
Time to enjoy summer again.
It seems to me that America has been on a roller coaster of emotions over the last few weeks. Will Biden drop out or won’t he? How could the Secret Service make such a horrible and fatal mistake in Pennsylvania?
I’m in the information business here, but fortunately I don’t have to keep content pumped out 24/7 or even on a daily basis. It gives me the opportunity to tune things out sometimes: go watch a ballgame, have dinner with my wife for an impromptu date night, or do some of my other tasks that include the honeydo list.
That’s not to say I have a carefree life, and I’m aware we as a nation are in the process of making vital decisions over the direction we will collectively be heading over the next few months. Yet, for many, that choice has long since been made - a certain percentage will vote for one candidate and a certain percentage the other. So I’m going to enjoy the blessings I have.
It’s why I like looking at my local elections because it affects my everyday life in ways a national election won’t. Donald Trump isn’t going to care who my County Councilman is, and Joe Biden probably won’t be affected anymore than I would who we elect as his local state representative. But decisions on local matters such as development, public services, and the role of government are important ones. For example, one major local change in providing affordable housing which occurred recently is allowing accessory dwelling units. It doesn’t matter to someone in Chicago, but it affects us.
I’m quite aware there are people out there who constantly fret over all the horse races of electoral politics. For some it’s a hobby and discussion topic, for a few select others it’s their job. And our 24/7 news cycle has led to this obsession - when I was much younger the news came in our daily newspaper as an article or two on pertinent races.
However, the other thing I recall was how the networks devoted all their prime time hours to each of the two major party conventions as they occurred. It’s likely my politically agnostic mom and dad turned them off, but maybe they were influenced by what they saw of men like Richard Nixon, George McGovern, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. No “fact-checkers,” just the reaction of an arena waving signs in the candidate’s chosen colors. (For a couple of times there, the Democrat convention was a sea of green because that was Jimmy Carter’s color. Oddly enough, Republicans have tended to be blue.)
That was back when we could disagree on Election Day and talk again on Wednesday.
As I noted in my last post, my election coverage is intended to be a template for other people who are interested in their local races.
Back home this would be the year we elected our state representatives, members of Congress, and President. (In Ohio, local elections are in odd-numbered years.) So my focus would be different. In Maryland, almost everything occurs in one year out of a four-year cycle, with only a select number of elections in other years. In Virginia, they’re “backwards” as state elections occur there in odd-numbered years. Here in Delaware, there are more county and state races this year, school board elections are annual in the spring, and occasionally we have a special election for a legislative vacancy. We elect a governor and lieutenant governor (separately, unlike other states) at the same time we elect a President.
The point is: people focused on the national stuff wouldn’t know that, but it’s still important information that affects people’s lives.
So I may not be the most informative writer to you over the next few months as I deep dive into my Delaware stuff. But stick around because I may toss a few national and issue-based items in, too.
Until next time, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.
To the good old days when we might disagree on ideas but still considered each other fellow Americans.