Today is quiet.
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| Many mansions in paradise |
The excitement happens tonight, when the votes are counted.
On the ground in St. Petersburg, Florida, amid condominiums filled with sunbird seniors, there is no sign whatever of the election here, later in March. No MAGA hats. No political signs allowed in this condominium complex.
The development is intended to simulate heaven's pleasant sunshine, a place of soft, breezes, manicured lawns, palm trees, stillness, and cool, refreshing waters. People have been shepherded into safety and a paradise of early heaven, where they want for nothing. They lie down beside the still waters of the swimming pool, their souls restored.
No need for politics in heaven.
People here read the weather reports back home. Snow in Boston. Ha!
In earthly, cold Massachusetts, Stephen Koster kept watch for indication of the election. Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin issued a notice that, notwithstanding the virus, the election proceeds. Pens are a vector for spreading disease, from one hand to another, unintended to mouth and eyes. He held a press conference to tell residents it was OK to bring their own pens to the polling place, pens with black or blue ink, he said, not red. The machines don't read red ink.
Stephen Koster is a college classmate, making him, like me, about 70. He is an attorney in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of expensive real estate and good schools to the west of Boston, where he helps prosperous people with wills and trusts. Newton is represented in Congress by Joseph Kennedy, III. Koster observes most closely people in a geographic and demographic group that was comfortable with the "meritocracy Democrat" evolution of the Democratic Party over the past four decades, the move that elevated Michael Dukakis to the governorship, and then patrician William Weld, a Republican, to that office. They don't want a revolution. They were ok with the idea that the way to assure a place in the upper middle class was to go to a good school, work hard, get a professional degree. It worked for them, which is why they are in Newton, Massachusetts.
Guest Post by Stephen Koster
"Imagine. People who were not born on 9-11 are voting for a guy who was born before Pearl Harbor."
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| Stephen Koster |
I think there is an election coming up in Massachusetts on Super Tuesday, but it is hard to know from external signs.
Driving home today on more than two miles of local roads, I counted twenty-one lawn signs: one for Biden, one for Warren, and nineteen for “Yes” or “No” on a local ballot question concerning an 800 unit housing development.
Last week, there had been one sign for “Pete” but that is now off a lawn. Outside a lecture at Symphony Hall last week, there were six signs for “Pete;” those people are presumably elsewhere. There were three signs at the major intersection in the center of town at rush hour tonight: all were “no war” signs held by a “veteran for peace.”
On television there were two ads by Bernie, and two by a PAC for Warren (who I thought had a plan not to accept PAC support but anyway …). Periodic ads for Mike. Before the New Hampshire primary, we had been seeing up to fifteen ads each hour, as many as six in one commercial break. Now, all are gone.
My observation is that Mike’s television ads are much more direct and appealing than those of Warren’s PAC. Mike has also sent multiple texts to our cell phones, even after we texted back asking to stop. How can his staff remember my number when I can not? We have had no robo-calls from any candidates or even supporters of any candidate.
In discussions last weekend, five people who had formerly been undecided told me that they would definitely vote for Amy. After today, each of these friends is really confused and disheartened. None of them would vote for Bernie or Warren, each wants to “punish” Mike for coming in so late with so much money. A couple feel left with Biden, even though they do not think he can beat Trump and seems tired and old. For all, it is hard to realize that our remaining choice will be among individuals each of whom is older than Eisenhower was when he LEFT the White House.
This is where we are.
I have been thinking about a March 1 column in the Wall Street Journal by James Huffman, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Oregon in 2010. When Donald Trump was nominated, Huffman changed his registration to “unaffiliated.” His column is entitled “Against Sanders, Trump Is the Lesser Evil.” I have sent it on to friends. Some who read the article have said it is true; others that they would just sit out the election.
A twenty-six candidate race has come down to this.
2 comments:
Each of does have a responsibility to strive to our highest potential, but not everyone comes to the game with everything they need to compete. The meritocracy only works if it's inherited. Research has shown that the majority do not rise far above their status at birth and life can be capricious and cruel no matter what your station.
Our distaste for Trumpism, of which the namesake is not the worst example, also is a reminder. We don't want to believe we live in a nation that falls short of realizing its founding values, but we do. That's the message Sen. Sanders, alone until recently among a generation of legislators, brings to our public discourse, a message many cannot accept.
What the rise of Trumpism shows us is that we have too many who are unable to see through fraud, but more to the point, who are willing to believe the worst about their fellow citizens, and who welcome the opportunity to look down on them as unworthy. Trump enablers are cynical and self serving, and we now have learned exactly how far some will stoop for personal gain.
The story of America has a narrative of exploitation and opportunism for the benefit of some and at the expense of others. The Progressive movement rose to counter fundamental unfairness; to women, the weak, minorities, that threatens the health, if not the very existence of the society.
In the Jungle one has no choice, "survival of the fittest" and the whims of nature determine one's fate. It's a luxury of civilization that we can make choices for ourselves and others and we shouldn't lose sight of that when the Jungle threatens to intrude.
The would be Tarzans who think Sen. Sanders, and the Progressive movement will destroy America should come down out of the treetops and spend some time on the ground.
Rick, well said. Indeed, Mr. Koster, come out of the treetops and spend some time on the ground. (Full disclosure: I've lived in Newton and have seen the Boston meritocratic culture.)
The stats back up the illusion of the American Dream. Something like only 7% can rise out of their social class. Peter, as far as a "revolution" goes...where have we heard that prior to Bernie? I've read a good deal about something called the "Reagan revolution;" why does that get a pass among those so-called "centrists" so sensitive to what they erroneously call "radical change?" Nothing in our history could be more radical than Reagan's rejection of the New Deal and Clinton's neoliberal embrace of that "new normal."
Andy Seles
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