The Still Before the Electoral Storm

If you’re paying attention, right before a storm comes, it gets really, really still. The blue herons and kingfishers seem to be the only birds still fishing. I wonder if it’s easier for them to see their tiny silver meals through the surface of the water when it is so quiet. From the porch you can hear whales surfacing and their tails whacking near to the channel. If you wait, you’ll see the wake ripple to the beach from their antics. The air smells like summer died. I have more devil’s club in my flesh than the devil does and those giant umbrella leaves are almost decayed. Jellyfish as big as five-gallon buckets are frosted in the tide line.

I guess I’m trying to pay attention to the things that have always been. Yes, there are constant changes to watch but there is a wonderful rhythm to that too.

Today I heard a woman on the radio explaining how complicated her family situation is and how she couldn’t possibly have Thanksgiving with them this year, even though the election will be over. I’m not sure what side of politics she thinks she’s on but it was clear her family thinks she’s on the wrong side.

State and local candidates all seem to be falling for the same bait the national circus has bit on and swallowed. Hell, everyone in the whole country seems to be mired in the gross mislabeling propagated by their “enemies”. I’m so sick of it. Political insiders are sick of it. People in the media are sick of it. Oh, I know you want to blame them, but if people weren’t consuming the play-by-play lunacy like candy corn, it wouldn’t be there.

A Republican friend of mine (Yes, I have them.) asked me what I wanted from this election. Not my predictions but what did I want to come of it. Those are two really different things. I guess it’s too late to elect Bernie Sanders but I would like to point out there are no tapes of him bragging about sexual assault or FBI investigations into his emails. I’ll try not to be bitter.

I’d like Alaska to be great again. It doesn’t have anything to do with that orange Muppet at the top of the ticket. That’s going to be over and we’re going to have to all move along with the election results because that’s how democracy works — and because winter is coming and we’re going to need each other. Come January, I’d like Alaska to have a group heading to Juneau that works together and isn’t so caucus loyal that they cut off our collective nose to score a political punch. Is that so much to ask? Well, sort of, because of the gerrymandering this state still suffers from, but I’m asking anyway. Would it kill us to vote for candidates who aren’t party drunk and want to find solutions for our state? Let’s try, shall we?

What do you want to happen after the election? We are all in the dating stages now, and then there’s the wedding on Nov. 8, and then we’re in an arranged marriage for four years. Wow. Doesn’t feel real romantic, does it? Well, it’s not supposed to. You don’t need romance or entertainment to hire a plumber or dentist, do you? It’s not the end of the world if your candidate doesn’t win … I hope.

My nephew is 9. For most of his life our president has been black. If Clinton wins, he has a good chance of turning 16 and only have memories of a “minority” and a woman as president. How do you think this shattering of the glass ceiling is going to affect the generation of children coming up? How are they going to look at each other, people of color and women? Maybe that in itself is a win.

Here at home, where we usually have snow for a good part of the year, our university can no longer afford to have a ski team and could potentially lose its NCAA status. Why? Because for too many years partisan politics has taken the wheel and decided fiscal certainty for oil companies is more important than having a funded higher education system. Oh, and that’s on a long list with pre-K, schools, childhood nutrition, health care, elder care, basic maintenance and safety.

For the generation coming up there will be a new ceiling thanks to the priorities of our current leadership. It’s time for us to vote for our real priorities. Go vote.

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