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Hunker Down with Kes

In This Corner, Wearing the Blue Trunks

Posted

I’ve heard enough gloom and doom talk over this impeachment thing to last a lifetime. And it comes from all sides. Both parties. Male and female. Young and old…
They’ve about fixed it so nobody is happy in America these days.
I guess we ought to take our hats off in awe and wonder… Only the upper level of our unique political system could cause such a genuine outcry amongst the ranks!
Finger pointing has taken on a life of its own. We’re talking from the President down to a first year rookie Congressman. And it cuts both ways. Every elected organism that stands before a podium or comes on “Face the Nation” has got the “facts” to back them up. And it doesn’t matter which party or political persuasion. They bring charts. Diagrams. Emails. Graphs. Pictures...
They can’t all be right!
Guilt and innocence doesn’t seem to be the point anymore. And I’m not sure where that leaves truth and justice. Aw, they all scream for it, demand it, proclaim it to the high Heavens...for the other side!
When the vote is always every Democrat Congress member for an issue and every Republican counterpart against it, or vice versa—guilt and innocence AND truth and justice seem to take a backseat to party lines.
It would be humorous…if it wasn’t so heartbreaking.
I’m wondering how much real “congressing” hasn’t gotten done in the last several weeks because of this melee. ’Course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With our government, sometimes less is better!
Will Rogers wrote a hundred years ago, “Thank goodness we’re not getting all the Government we are paying for.”
You’d think we have rewritten the book on pointing out the other fellow’s shortcomings; taken “polarization” to new heights. But not so fast…
President George Washington was unanimously elected twice. After that, the gloves came off. Two of his cabinet members, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, were worlds apart in their view of the future for the fledging country.

And they voiced their opinions loud, long and often. Neither was above using unscrupulous means to uplift their status and thwart the advance of the other. It “polarized” the young nation into the first political parties. You talk about dog eat dog…
Of course, they dined on each other in the gentlemanly manners of the time. And thankfully, for the good of all, CBS, CNN and FOX weren’t around to aggravate the situation. So maybe it doesn’t seem as dramatic or angry filled today. But believe me, those early Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist feuds could melt the paint off the statehouse walls!
Andrew Jackson’s rise to the presidency enraged so many people they formed a whole new political party just to oppose him. U. S. House of Representative Preston Brooks, in May of 1856, attacked Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the Senate and beat him near ’bout to death with a cane.
It has never been all peace and harmony.
In February of 1858, Pennsylvania Republican Galusha Grow and South Carolina Democrat Laurence Keitt exchanged insults, and then blows. The ensuing free-for-all that broke out in the U. S. House of Representative chamber ended in laughter when Republican John “Bowie Knife” Potter ripped the hairpiece off of Democrat William Barksdale.
I don’t believe the present day political conflict is going to end in laughter.
And that may be our fault. We’ve elected the wrong people! Or we’re paying too much attention to them! They get to Washington and go to postulating and aggrandizing till their self worth sky rockets through the ceiling.
They start believing their opinion is better than mine, or yours. And that, dear hearts, is dangerous and unhealthy. For all of us!
But it is not gloom and doom. Unless we let it be! Life is too short and too precious for us to waste time on who we should have voted for. And I believe with all my heart this nation has too many everyday, extraordinary, courageous, well meaning, good folks in it for the present “elect-tees” to drag us down.
How about we concentrate, enjoy and love more on each other and let history sort out this current crop of national leaders. I know it’s a big ask. But it beats banging your head against the wall.
I’m fixing to be too busy “living large” to fool with any of it... unless someone in Congress is about to get their hairpiece ripped off…
Respectfully,
Kes