Elections

The subject for today is elections and after the 2016 Presidential election, I’m pretty well done with the whole thing. I will, however, try to recall past political experiences. I don’t remember too many great differences between the politics of the parties. My earliest remembrance of a political argument was as a child as I lay in bed listening to my mother and father with friends in the living room. These friends turned out to be pro-Hitler. These were the early days before the 2nd World War. There were people who thought Hitler was going to be a good thing for Germany. Well, the voices got more and more heated. My mother and father were so against the views of their friends. I only know that after that night we didn’t see those friends anymore. As I grew up, I remember that my family was Republican. I do remember that there were controversies in the country about Franklin Roosevelt but praise for his programs to ease the depression by putting people to work on various public works. I never was much of an activist until I was living in Florida. More recently, I remember the “hanging chads” situation and then I was really involved at the time of Obama’s election. I belonged to a Democratic Club and attended some dinners and rallies for State and Federal Representatives. I passed out information in front of the local library and then the night of the election a group of neighbors all got together to watch the returns. It was a tense night but fun when our guy won. However, whatever my memories, it all pales in comparison to the many weeks - or was it months and years - of the recent election. I will say that I have learned a great deal about how elections are run but I regret the time wasted in front of TV listening to the mud being slung and nasty words being said - not to mention the money being spent when it could have been used for good in the world. False promises were made which could never come true - many of them harmful and ridiculous. The hypocrisy of it all. Now they say that was just politics. A whole new tone is adopted. I don’t believe the words that are said and I know our children are confused. How can we teach them right and wrong when our so called leaders give them conflicting messages. I have one thing to say - be careful what you wish for and good luck to our wonderful country. It’s a beautiful place. We must treat it and our people with great care.