Hello from Main Street,
I am back in the only official town in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the place where I first moved in the late summer of 2009. It is a typical Main Street of small town Americana, and like many small towns, it has experienced the growing pains of a changing culture, the location of huge box stores taking up what were once fields, the changing realty of once thriving factories that are now memories of the elderly, and the reality that technology and online shopping are the preference of Millennials or Gen Z-ers. As I listen to the morning breakfast crew and ponder their reminiscences, as I read the ever-increasing impulsiveness or internally-contradictory behavior of American daily life, I wonder why I am so fascinated by politics, even now in our present state. I do believe there is an irony that I am so geographically close to Philadelphia and Gettysburg, two significant places in the reality of American democracy.
As recently noted, I remember the first televised Presidential Debate between Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon before the November 1960 election. I was barely 5 years old (by 10 days), but somehow I was fascinated. I remember my parents (who were Democrats) musing about the fact that Senator Kennedy was a Roman Catholic, and questioning if they should become a concern. Somehow, I realized the significance of that question. What I know now, over six decades later that somehow I was enthralled (not a word in my vocabulary as a 5 year old), I was captivated, mesmerized, by the process of politics.
My parents like many of that “greatest generation” took their voting privileges seriously, and I do not believe they ever missed an election, including off-years. In fact, I remember on one particular election where the weather was prohibitive, I drove my father to his polling place. At the time I had a 1972 Chevelle with a 454, loud exhaust and a louder stereo (an 8-track). He lamented on the drive over, “I am not sure what is worse, the mufflers or the music.” Regardless the “Uber” of the time, he was going to vote. I believe that election would have been 1976, and of course, America had experienced the resignation of both a Vice President and a President during the previous four years. President Ford had become the only person to serve both offices and never be elected to either. One of the anomalies and miracles of our political system. Again, a reason for fascination. Some almost 50 years later, our experiment in democracy is still here, and depending on to who you speak, the current “State of our Union” is a topic of intense discussion. And yet, when I was in Europe last summer, my exchange student’s father saw our current atmosphere as still something to be admired. I remember listening with captive interest at the perspective of this Danish national, a third generation attorney.
What I realized in his insightful comments was how another country perceived the profound intricacies of our checks and balances, of our regularly scheduled elections, of the way we decide the direction of our country. Certainly, these things are noted in a rather broad-stroke brush manner, but it is still foundationally part of what the writers of the Constitution intended. When I was in the Marine Corps, I remember standing guard duty at a secured area. A LCDR, without the need-to-know, attempted to walk through that area. I was an E-4 at the time, so a low grade Noncommissioned Officer. When I informed him that I would not allow him access the area, he became incensed. I was frightened, but I respectfully held my ground. I calmly repeated my refusal, while on the inside I was shaking. When he attempted to move forward I stood in his way and informed him that I would lock and load my weapon. I actually implored him to not push things to that point. Again, to be honest, I was petrified. Long-story-short, I did not get in trouble for doing my duty, and, in fact, was commended for my handling of the situation. I suspect it did not go as well for the LCDR.
One of the amazingly genius things about our country is its Constitution and that every federal employee, service person, or elected official takes an oath of allegiance to that document, to that ideal of democracy. Certainly there have been profound struggles to maintain that Republic as Benjamin Franklin anticipated there would be. Certainly, we have been pulled in opposite directions from time to time, be it because of slavery and the subsequent discrimination of others. We have from the beginning tried to find a balance between States’ Rights vs. Federalism, and we still do not have it figured out. We seldom agree with the role nor do we have a consensus about the role of American in the world. And yet it is fascinating to view and ponder. Politics is something we say we should never discuss, but wherever two or three are gathered, you HAVE politics. That is our human reality. We actually should always discuss, ponder, and understand our political process and what it does. That is what democracy is.
Sixty-two years ago, on a sunny-kissed autumn day in Dallas, I believe the idealism that many Americans, and perhaps the world, held to was shattered with the assassination of a young President, a President who brought the country and the world into the Oval Office to see his children hide under the resolute desk. A President who toddler son would salute his casket. And yet even in that tragic moment on a plane, the transition from one person to the next occurred with an oath to that same Constitution. While I was only in third grade, the loss of a President shocked this 8 year old, and I remember reading everything I could to understand. Our fascination, even to the level of morbidity, continues 6 decades later. A Gallup Poll on the 60th Year of Remembrance of that 22nd day in November revealed 65% of Americans believe there was a conspiracy. Much could be written, argued or asserted about our propensity to believe in CT, but suffice it to say, the Kennedy family and its tragic role in American politics is unparalleled.
Now as a person retired, that five year old’s fascination with the way politics affects Main Street has never left me. I look it all much differently now, but nonetheless, I am continually amazed how humans can treat the other based on ideology. I am reminded of the words of the narrator in the novel, The Book Thief. I am [both fascinated and] haunted my humans.”
Thank you for reading,
Michael
thewritingprofessor55 