"Do you want to visit a lavender farm?" my wife asked. The honest answer would be: "God no — why would I do that?"
But we were in Northern Michigan, with a few hours to kill before the weekend's wedding festivities began. I'm a blind blunderer, but my wife has this superpower; she investigates where we're going and discovers what there is to do. So her suggestion is an endorsement, practically a command. In that light, why yes, by all means, let's go. If I didn't take my wife's lead, I'd still be a single guy living in a one-bedroom apartment in Oak Park, and not the father of a groom.
"Sure," I said. Shortly thereafter we were gawping at the purple wonderland of Lavender Hill Farm.
This is such a beautiful country. The rural regions hold their own against the national parks or coastal waters or even the gorgeous skyline of a city like Chicago. Driving almost anywhere reminds me of that.
I know. Democrats are supposed to be twisting in agony right now. Between Old Joe Biden tightening his grip on the steering wheel as the Democratic Party races toward a cliff, and Donald Trump escaping death (by the direct intervention of the Lord God Almighty, as he says, or by the same persistent dumb luck that had him born to a real estate millionaire in 1946), doom is nigh.
But honestly, I don't feel it. Given how either man won't be around much longer, I'm already looking past them, to what each represents. Biden's biggest achievements so far are repairing America's crumbling infrastructure — bridges and roads like the ones we were gliding across — and mobilizing Europe to stand behind Ukraine. Plus standing for decency and honesty — his claims to spryness notwithstanding.
Trump represents an America not only grovelling before dictators, but imitating them. On that note: enjoying the Republican convention? I didn't watch a second. News reports convey policy notions that are pure folly. Like those "MASS DEPORTATION NOW!" signs. I don't know if you've noticed, but companies can't staff as it is. Were the United States to actually do what the GOP is suggesting — deport millions of immigrants whom we didn't allow to become legal — besides being an epic human rights disaster, it would crater our economy.
As would the tariffs Trump loves, whether imposed by him or JD Vance. Chicago should be especially sensitive to this. Remember candy companies? Remember Brach's on the West Side, running 24 hours a day? Swept away by daft sugar tariffs propping up beet farms in Minnesota. It was estimated that three candy company jobs vanished for every sugar industry job saved.
To continue reading, click here.
You're right on target, Mr. S. and this is a hopeful message that you give here.
ReplyDeleteSlight correction: The sugar beet farms are in North Dakota & a few Cuban exile billionaires own the sugar cane fields in Florida, which is the cause of our insane sugar tariffs. The world price of sugar is something like 6¢ a pound, while if you go to the store, you'll pay at least 50¢ a pound for it.
ReplyDeleteI also haven't watched one second of that insanity in Milwaukee, but I did turn on the TV last night to watch a show I had recorded & for a few seconds, there was the fat traitor going on about Caracas? I have no idea what his rant was about, but he sure sounded like a tired old lunatic for those few seconds I accidentally caught!
Right you are. Fixed now. Thanks.
DeleteLavender is very calming. We should all visit a lavender farm during election season.
ReplyDeleteTwelve years ago we passed through Sequim Washington, in the Olympic Peninsula. There was lavender everywhere you looked. The air is as sweet with the scent. Very soothing. A very pleasant experience.
here's to the future and hope.
ReplyDeleteThanks for expressing some optimism about what may lie ahead. We all need to find reasons for hope.
ReplyDeleteThe Democratic Party is not racing off a cliff. I'm so tired of this shit. Joe and Kamala are doing a great job. Biden has been putting journalists in their place for continuing to beat this dead horse while he wants to talk about policies and accomplishments. The media is prolonging this insanity. The media needs to stop.
ReplyDeleteSpoken like a man who didn't watch the debate. Let's circle back on Sunday and see how this reads.
DeleteIt's more than the media...the highest echelons of the Democratic Party are now jumping off what they perceive as a ship that's about to capsize and sink. When I heard, yesterday, that even Barack Obama has now stuck a shiv into Joe's back, I knew it was all over, and that he's toast...and that so are we.
DeleteThe past three weeks have felt watching like a Shakespearean play--Julius Caesar. The knives have come out and Joe has been sliced and diced. Will it be Harris now...or some desperation candidate in Chicago, who will have their ass handed to them in November? Joe was...and still is, our best hope...maybe even our only hope. It's as simple as ABC...we've Already Been Cooked.
Harry Truman, Harry Truman
Truman Truman, Harry Harry
The mantra isn't working for me anymore. I have been sick to my stomach...both literally and figuratively...since last weekend. Keep wanting to believe that it's 1948 all over again and that Joe is another Harry, and that he will prevail, and pull off a huge upset, but it's getting harder and harder to believe it.
Here's the deal, as Joe so often likes to say. Truman was 64...Biden is almost 82. Truman was at the top of his game, but Joe is slipping, and seems to be in a fog some of the time. Time and the Iceman stop for nobody. I have only to look at my wife's older brother. We know the drill.
Yeah, I dearly love Joe, but as of right now, I don't think he has another four-plus years of service left in the tank. I feel the same way I felt when we had a beloved kitty who was twenty years old. Sometimes you gotta do whatchoo gotta do.
And yes, Mr. S, this is indeed a beautiful country. I've been to 43 of the Lower 48, and America's scenery and variety are mind-boggling. But there are certain places where travel is not advisable right now, if you're not on the Trump Train...the Orange Bullshit Special.
Sorry, Mr S, but I'm not all that optimistic. America tore itself apart once before, over enslavement, and I think we're about to do it again, over the denial of bodily autonomy this time. The ultimate form of enslavement.
You see diamonds, where I see broken glass. Sixty-five years as a Die-Hard Cub Fan will do that. We always hope for the best, but we expect the worst. And we usually get it. If only our dilemma had to do with merely a baseball season. This is about so much more. This is about pretty much everything.
I think Biden's big mistake was in agreeing to the debate in the first place. In my opinion, a debate is not a fair measure of Biden's competence or of Trump's. There would be no significance if Trump were to beat Biden in a basketball game or a fist fight for that matter. There's no doubt that Trump can talk for hours without pause (and without sense), while Biden can't fill dead air the way a TV professional can. But it was a serious mistake in judgment nonetheless, refusing to look the fool, but ending up proving his lack of skill. Should that one mistake determine the future of Joe Biden's political career? Certainly not...in a fair world. I'm a 1942 guy myself and I'm happy to have finally escaped from a job full of daily worries and constant hazards. If Biden is going to quit, he'd better do it soon and have a well thought out plan about how to do it, while preserving the rapidly diminishing chance of defeating Trump.
ReplyDeletejohn
I wish I could share your optimism. I would tend to agree with Tate on Biden debating. On the other hand it would probably make him look weak, which he really is. And Trump would be all over him for not doing so. From what I read, his press conference was not that great either. And by the way decent people don't support a genocide. I don't think this got much of any press here. They just admit they are shooting innocent people even children. https://www.jonathan-cook.net/2024-07-19/israel-soldiers-gaza-testimonies/ I am in face book group, where if any of the people vote at all they are going to vote for Jill Stein. This image brought up some comments in the group https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10228780521995631&set=gm.840290057679719&idorvanity=632162085159185 The debate was whether Hicks was right that we gave it away. The person who said HIcks was wrong and said this. Americans refuse to build working class socialist political parties and refuse to mass defend unions .
ReplyDeleteBecause they are all brain washed since kindergarten that the 2 party system has their interests at heart. And that “‘socialism “ is evil.
The democrats and republicans don’t have workers interests at heart and both parties , the constitution, the SCOTUS are all designed by to work by and for the capitalist ruling class .
And corporate media , education, and entertainment media is all controlled by them too . Which reinforces the capitalist classes narrative.
But workers need to understand that the ruling class TOOK IT … we didn’t give it to them . Theirs millions of leftists and socialists out there that fought the good fight against them . We need to hold them up as examples of good people . Not founding fathers who were all slavers , not cretins like Biden or Trump or even sheep dogs like Sanders and AOC who keep leading workers back in behind the ruling class parties. Carlin was correct. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/964648-but-there-s-a-reason-there-s-a-reason-there-s-a-reason
Yes, rich people and the "capitalist ruling class" have rigged the system to further their interests at the expense of working people. But the Republicans have been far more detrimental than the corporate Democrats since Reagan's presidency, at least. I support your interest in holding up examples of good people who have actually fought for the common people, rather than an orange creep who was born on third base and panders to those people through the most transparent charlatanism this side of "A Face in the Crowd."
ReplyDeleteThat being said, as far as I'm concerned, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson are largely responsible for the particular urgent predicament the country is in right now. If you don't think that a Supreme Court with 3 Hillary Clinton appointees would be much more beneficial for average people than the Heritage Foundation version we're saddled with, I don't believe you're being objective. Jill Stein will never be president, nor, frankly, should she be. She CAN help assure the return of the worst person to ever hold the office, however.
Unlike 99% of the readers here, I imagine, I bothered to click on your links. There's a lot wrong with this nation, but the idea that Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and many other Democratic candidates "don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don't care about you at all -- at all -- at all." as George Carlin boldly proclaimed, is simply bullshit. (Not that he mentioned them by name -- I imagine that quote is 20 years old, at least.)
Both parties are complicit in maintaining the status quo in many ways, but the fact that the Republican party cares almost solely about rich people keeping as much of their money as possible, while Democrats actually do try to enact policies to make things better for regular people has never been more evident.