America Decides 2024
So here we are. The most historic and consequential election of our lifetimes. Being on the cusp of Medicare, I have witnessed my share of economic and warfare cycles, and a lot of political bullshit along the way. What, you say, makes this election so historic? If you must ask, chances are you’ve been living in a cave, but here goes.
We have witnessed two assassination attempts on a major party candidate. That has never happened. Last time we saw one assassination attempt of a major party candidate was 1972 when Democrat George Wallace was shot, which ended his primary bid. He survived but spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. The only other time was in 1968 when RFK was killed after a victory speech in the California Democrat primary. He was surely on the way to his party’s nomination. Ironically, RFKs eldest son dropped out of the Democrat primary and now supports the GOP nominee this year. Crazy. We are witnessing a generational re-ordering of the political demographics in the United States where large swaths of the electorate are crossing racial, gender and ethnic lines and switching parties. So, is this the historical equivalent of at least a 50-year flood?
But wait, there’s more. The last time we saw a former President, who was not the incumbent, run for a second term was in 1912 when Theodore Roosevelt ran as a third-party candidate after serving two terms from 1901-1909. Incidentally, Teddy survived an assassination attempt in that campaign. The only other time was in 1892 with Democrat Grover Cleveland winning after serving a first term in 1884. That makes Mr. Trump running again the equivalent of a 100-year flood. Finally, the 2024 cycle is the first time an incumbent President was replaced by his party’s elite power brokers AFTER winning their party’s primary in a landslide. That has NEVER happened. Maybe that’s a 1000-year flood, if our country lasts that long.
To review. The most powerful and consequential nation that had ever existed is as politically divided as it has ever been in its history. Although historical, it’s not unprecedented given that America fought a brutal civil war 160 years ago. Although for different reasons, my point is that our nation is getting to be just as divided as it was back then. Political issues can stir up vitriol and violence and divide families and friends. So far, our current ideological division has not triggered any meaningful violence save for the two recent assassination attempts on Donald Trump, the 2020 George Floyd riots and the Jan 6 Capitol riots. Sure, these are examples of violence, but they were small and never a real threat to our country. Despite the rantings of our esteemed “fourth branch” media, they aren’t the kind of widespread, “in your neighborhood” violence like 160 years ago.
Let’s pray we don’t get there, but with unstainable inflation-causing government spending and debt, an unprecedented migratory invasion of our southern border, government-induced moral hazard permeating our society, and a diminishing national defense in the face of rising authoritarian adversaries, our country is in a dangerous place. Let’s also pray that cooler heads prevail because our handling these challenges depends on a national consensus. Weak leaders double-down on the old forms of political bribery to maintain their power as they kick cans down the road. Great leaders rally the consensus by patiently but firmly explaining the cost-benefit of making hard decisions to the American public. Our history has examples of both kinds of leaders, and we were very fortunate that the great ones emerged just when we needed them most.
This will be my last post before the election and, regardless of who wins or whether you take the Blue Pill or the Red Pill, America will endure, for now. Despite the worst impulses of the Democrats, I think there remains enough votes to prevent them from destroying the independence of SCOTUS, eliminating the Senate filibuster, making Puerto Rico and DC new states, and outlawing political dissent. I also think there are plenty of votes to prevent former President Trump from realizing the worst fever swamp fears of a fascist dictatorship emerging. We will survive because we have nearly 250 years of culture as the most important democracy in history. Whatever your political leanings, our brilliant system of checks and balances has saved us. We should be very suspicious of those who think these checks and balances are annoying and archaic obstacles to “progress.”
I hope you are enjoying my attempts to diversify away from political discourse to more fun stuff like music, food and travel. I am really stoked about this and look forward to interviewing cool chefs, musicians and other luminaries going forward. I will still be sharing thoughts on important issues, just less so. I am also proud that this month marks the fifth anniversary of the Locally Grown Podcast and Blog, and the sixth anniversary of my book, Locally Grown: The Art of Sustainable Government. I’m considering publishing an updated version whose principles of bottom-up government are more relevant than ever. We will see. As I have said many times, I have great respect for writers, journalists, and social media types who churn out content every day. It’s hard work to produce something relevant and unique once per month like me, so hats off to all you serious content creators out there.
That’s it for now so go out and vote folks and remember, United We Stand, Divided We Fall, Each One for the Other, and All for All.