BY CHRIS MILLSPAUGH
Even through the entire pandemic, the nation’s political parties haven’t given up bombarding us with their pleas for donations for their candidates. It doesn’t matter to them whether or not you’re on a fixed income, as in my case, or if you’re unemployed because of the dire economy. They rattle us on our e-mail accounts, Facebook, in newsprint, on radio and on television. It doesn’t matter to them that you have to pay your bills, or even eat, for that matter. They repeatedly announce to us that we are doomed if we don’t send in $3 by midnight, tonight.
It’s called “grassroots” campaigning, meaning that the election rests entirely upon you, so break out your wallets and give, give and give some more.
What’s the matter with you?
I, for one, am really tired of the guilt being imposed upon me. How about you? It used to be the campaigns were funded by the political parties’ war chests. Money was gathered from corporations and “fat cats” who maneuvered for special interests and favors. It still is, but for the last three or four elections it has fallen upon us little guys to add to the prize pot even if we can’t afford it. Why not deduct a small percentage from our income tax to go for political parties and leave everyone else alone to vote for their own choice without suffering through all this needless pressure?
The Census Bureau collects all the data and facts and designates the
electoral count for each state. This determination awards the most votes to the largest populated areas in the country. Thus, New York, California, Florida and Texas receive the most despite the needs and lifestyles of each state. I believe Idaho gets four electoral votes. Makes you feel a little powerless, doesn’t it?
And, don’t you just love the way the advocates from each party resort to talking amidst the accusatory verbiage and mudslinging, some to the point of slander and outright lies. We seem to be put into the position of voting out of fear. I don’t care for that. Sure, that’s the way it is, but at the end of the day you’ll blah blah blah. Well, the stock market will tremble but at the end of the day you’ll blah blah blah.
And, how about those pundits who talk in questions? “Do I want to have more taxes piled upon me? No, but how else do we fund these projects?” “Do I agree with my state representatives? No, but they’re our leaders in the House and Senate who enact the laws of the land.” “Do I believe the world is corrupt? Yes, but it’s the only world that we’ve got.” (Heartwarming, aren’t they?)
At age 78, this could be my last election and I intend to vote at my precinct at The Community Library or mail in my vote, whatever the deal is. Do I wonder what kind of world we are leaving our children? Of course. But with my birthday being August 26, 1941, I made it through Pearl Harbor and World War II, the “Blacklisting” era and the Korean War. I survived the Vietnam War, the “Summer of Love,” the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Kennedy and the landing on the moon. I endured the Nixon years and missing tapes and “Watergate,” the Clinton and the “Lewinsky” scandal and made it through the Carter years and the “Hostage Crisis.” I got through the Reagan years with “Trickle Down Economics” and the Iran Contra debacle with Ollie North. I endured the 9/11 bombing of the Twin Towers and the misguided Iraq War. I’ve been through the Bush years and the Stock Market crash of 2008, the Obama years and the rise of racism, school shootings and Donald J. Trump and the coronavirus horror. But I made it through and so will the kids in the next decades to come. May God have mercy on all of our souls.
Humor column? Maybe next week. Nice talking to you.
