Hunker Down: It’s all about the grandchildren

I heard a celebrated news commentator say this presidential race “is the most important election in our nation’s history.” A congresswoman, in the same vein of thinking, declared, “The fate of our country and the world depends on the outcome of this election.”

Some Hollywood actor said, “The stakes have never been higher.”

Of course, Earl down at the coffee shop thinks we’ve got the two worst candidates running for president in the history of mankind.

They are all wrong!

And I don’t care how many people at CBS, Fox News, CNN or The Washington Post disagree. Maybe this whole election is a bit warped because we’ve let those people tell us what to think far too long…

In 1789 a fledging America elected George Washington president. It wasn’t much of an election by today’s standards. He didn’t campaign. He didn’t have one ad on TV. He had no mail-outs. No one had a George Washington sign in their yard. He didn’t even have an opponent!

But our preceding attempt at government hadn’t worked. We were 13 weak colonies held together by a thin, narrow, unraveling string. England was ready to pounce at the first sign of failure.

Somebody had to lead. And without a precedent to follow, without a blueprint and without much of a political background, Washington forged ahead. Seems to me that was a fairly important presidential election.

It absolutely was for the people of that day!

Nobody “early voted” for Abraham Lincoln. But they got the right guy. At a critical time in America’s history! You can’t believe the negative things said about candidate Abe by his opposition. Tall, skinny, ugly, gangly, runs for every office available, ignorant buffoon from the backwoods of Illinois were a few of the mild rebukes offered.

It is egotism at the highest level to think 2020 is a more important moment than the founding of this nation; or the struggle in the War of 1812 to hold on to our country; or the internal fight in the 1860s to free all Americans; or the tough years of the Great Depression; or the two world wars to ensure our way of life.

I could go on. But you get the point.

Every presidential election is of utmost importance!

And I’ve got a couple of names for Earl down at the coffee shop: U. S. Grant and Warren G. Harding. President Grant was a great general; his presidency didn’t turn out quite as well. And if you’ve got the stomach for it, you can read about the misdeeds, shenanigans, follies and criminal actions during Harding’s administration.

Let me give you the other side of the presidential coin. Herbert Clark Hoover took office March 4, 1929, just eight months before the stock market crash. He was, and has been, forever maligned for “bringing on” the Great Depression. It’s his lot in history.

A closer look at his remarkable life reveals a vastly different picture. He might be one of the most honorable and good men ever to serve in this nation’s highest office. But you could never convince CBS, Fox, CNN, etc. that they might be wrong about President Hoover.

I believe it was Yogi Berra, or maybe Leon, who said, “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

By the time you read this, the election will be over. Unless, of course, there’s a tie or somebody protests the results.

Half of America will be ecstatic. The other half not so much so! But here is the real issue – what is the most we can do, each one of us, to help our country rise above the political noise?

Will Rogers was absolutely correct back in his day. He wrote the big normalcy, the vast number of good people in America, overshadow any one man who just happens to be the president at a particular time.

Will humorously noted that sometimes we have to “keep going” in spite of who we elected!

So many folks across our great nation have such strong opinions about today’s candidates. It’s love or hate, with little room for middle ground. It has, to say the least, been a bit more acrimonious than Washington’s first campaign.

But there is life after the votes are in. And listen, the way the winners accept victory… and the losers handle defeat… may do more to define our future than who got elected.

Let’s be good-thinking, mature adults here. My grandchildren are depending on you! 

And that, dear hearts, is way more important than world opinion, nightly news commentary, climate change, fracking or who we have temporarily allowed to occupy our White House.

Respectfully,

Kes

This article originally appeared on The Star: Hunker Down: It’s all about the grandchildren