“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
― H.L. Mencken, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe
Well, H.L. Mencken was certainly proven correct, only 60 years after he published the words above back in 1956.
I don’t know what that truly says about us as a people and our inner soul. But I do know that today we have a chance to clean up that lapse in judgement.
It’s election day 2020! Kick out the jams, folks! Let’s get this thing done. To be honest, I was going to use a different word here instead of folks. All you old MC5 fans out there will know what I was thinking.
I am not going to drone on. Just asking you to participate, to get out there and vote. Thank you for all who have already taken their civic responsibility seriously and voted early. And if you have yet to vote, stand tough and get that vote in today.
Take nothing for granted and do not be discouraged, intimidated or swayed.
Just vote.
I used the painting above from Norman Rockwell albeit with the addition of a mask to make it even more relevant to 2020. Even without the mask, it seemed to sum up this year pretty well. You can interpret it for yourself.
Have a good day and let’s hope together that we vote for a different and better future than the one we’ve been headed towards for the past four years.
Here’s an ad from the Lincoln Project, a group of longtime Republican operatives who have been actively opposed to the current iteration of their party and this president***. This is their final message for the election and it features the magnificent rendition of America the Beautiful from Ray Charles. It’s the only time his foundation has allowed the use of his music in a political ad.
This ad doesn’t attack or elevate either candidate even as it asks for you to vote for a change from what is now at hand. It aspires to the ideal of America, its vision and promise. It’s about what we hope to be, How we wish the world to see us and how we hope to see ourselves.
Only one candidate this year can take us anywhere near that goal.
Like the ad says, the time has come.
Vote for change.
Vote for America.
Well, we’re finally nearing the end of our national nightmare. With that in mind, I thought I would show a couple of paintings concerning our election process from Norman Rockwell who chronicled this country for many, many decades and often seemed to get to the core of things in his work. At the bottom, I included a couple of his most famous paintings to show that our elections are something more than popularity contests. They do indeed have consequences. They do shape our view of and in the world.
I am taking a short hiatus from writing the blog just to recharge a bit. This has been a part of my day for over seven years now and I have tried to put out something every day. But I am a little run down at the moment , a little depleted. I need a short break and figure this time around the holidays is the right time to put the blog on hold. Maybe for a week or two. Maybe more. Maybe less.
Redtree Times 