ON VOTING

OPINIONS ARE LIKE BELLY BUTTONS--everyone has one. [With the exceptions of Adam and maybe Eve whose pre-birth states didn't need an umbilical cord as far as I know.]

I'm assuming you chose freely to visit this page and read these words for what they might be worth. This is just a statement of my opinion and perspective. It might bear little to no resemblence to your own. That's okay with me and I hope it is with you.

If you're ready to continue: here we go.

I live in Oklahoma, a very "red" state politically speaking, and from one report I read, ranks 49th out of the 50 U.S. states in turnout of registered voters. Arkansas being the worst in this category.

Why? I don't know. Based on conversations I've had with folks about this imminent election, here are a couple of possibilities:

1. I'm not voting because I don't like either candidate.

2. Why vote in Oklahoma? We all know the republicans are going to win.

I wish every registered voter would vote. My thoughts:

a.) It is such a privilege. It's the only way we have an opportunity to weigh in on those who govern and how we are governed. Even if our candidate has a snowball's chance in Oklahoma in July, we still have siezed our right to have a say.

b.) You get to do whatever you want in that voting booth and no one will know. You can be a bit rebellious and transgressive. In our voting place we get to hide away in a sort of cardboard box, fill in the square by the name of anyone our heart and mind and spirit and conscience leads us to, and it's nobody's business.

c.) You get that little "I Voted" sticker, and maybe, if you want to, in a few months or so, you can say, "Don't blame me! I didn't vote for that fool!"

Now, despite the wonderfully secretive nature of voting listed as letter "b" above, I'm going to reveal the name of the candidate I will NOT be voting for (and thus making public the candidate I've chosen.) But first...

IF YOU COULD SEE INSIDE MY HEART AND SOUL you would hopefully find ZERO desire to get all political in a divisive, antagonistic way. The last thing I want to do is hurt or rile up, or, God please forbid: alienate.

Taking that risk, I feel like I need to write down my concerns and convictions, for some kind of record, in the unlikely chance that my grandkids or great grandkids might someday wonder where old Pops stood on the state of things in the diminishing days of 2024.

I've written some of this stuff in private journals. And, back when I was more stupid and cocky (around 2016ish) I made the occasional, regretful social media post--enough to have learned to avoid that path as if it was strewn with snakes, ticks, poisin vines, hidden pits and conspiracy theorists. Apparently I'm a slow learner.

My political leanings haven't changed much over the years. At times my zeal has run hotter and deeper but for the most part I've always found myself left of most of my family, friends and coworkers. Not bragging or regretting. Just saying.

I think my philosophies/worldview were shaped early. Literally, from infancy, the Jesus I was taught to know and love, to seek and to follow, was one who always sought to humanize others, one who paid attention to those whose stories weren't necessarily in the main body of the narrative but out in the margins. When he was introduced as the Prince of Peace, I took that literally. When I memorized the words, "For God SO loved The World that He gave..." I came to understand the breadth, the intensity, and eternity of that love. Certainly, with any "rebelliousness" that may have been a part of my first coming-of-age, I hope I was trying to "work out my salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12). Still am. I didn't find peaceful protests, questioning authorities, suspicion of institutions and all that to be incongruent with Christ-following: just the opposite in fact. Still do.

Best I remember, there were a few significant worldview shaping events for me during that time. Here's a timeline:

• January 8, 1969: My 18th birthday. Registered with the Selective Service System: received my "draft card".

• January 20, 1969: Marched in the Inaugural Parade of Richard Nixon in Washington D.C. Saw behind the scenes the rage and animosity for him and the Vietnam war.

• May 1969: Graduated from Will Rogers High School in Tulsa.

• Fall 1969: Began classes at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee. I majored in music to get a scholarship but my heart was in journalism and socio-political science.

• October 15, 1969: "Nationwide Moratorium to End The War in Vietnam". Helped to organize our campus' participation in the massiave demonstration, which included a rally and the wearing of black arm bands. It was a big deal to us then.

• May 4, 1970: Kent State University murders. Four students were killed by Ohio National Guardsmen. Participated in a night of mourning for those students with an overnight demonstration on the campus oval.

• Summer of 1970: I spent a good chunk of the summer traveling across Europe, playing drums in a band. An eye-opening, mind-blowing summer for sure.

• Fall 1970: Transferred to Tulsa University majoring in journalism. Became more politically active, seeking to find a way to do something besides protest the war. I was particularly interested alternatives to Richard Nixon and changing the voting age from 21 to 18. Both of these were anti-war positions. The rationale: many young men were too young to vote but were subject to the draft and forced to fight in the war. Without a vote there was no way to influence the people sending them off to risk their lives. Posters and chants in protest events declared, "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote!"

• July 1, 1970: A Lottery was held for men facing the draft in 1971. This determined the order in which men born in 1951 were called to report for induction into the military. My birthdate was Number 116.

• June 30, 1971: The 26th Amendment was finally ratified changing the minimum voting age to 18, the same age that young men were required to register for the draft. I would now be able to actually vote for the candidates I had been campaigning for, including George McGovern, who despite my vote and campaigning lost in a landslide to the very crooked Richard Nixon.

• Winter 1971: I received notice to report to the draft board for processing and a physical. My number had come up. My enmity for Nixon and power-greedy politicans boiled and I veered further left. Fortunately, the war became more and more unpopular and started winding down. That bus trip from Tulsa to Oklahoma City for a physical was as close as I would get to Vietnam.

• Early 1972: Let's put it this way. My passions were evolving. I had become involved in the "Jesus Movement", a sort of hippie version of discipleship. I was the drummer in a band playing a new genre of music called Christian Rock; some would say an oxymoron. But what had really grabbed my heart was a young lady who is, fifty-two years later, still My Amazing Missus.

So here we are now, the autumn of 2024, and I want to, for some unknown reason, be on record with my voting intentions. This would be a good time to click back to Facebook or to solving a Wordle puzzle, if you haven't gotten bored and done so already.

I will not vote for Donald Trump.

Here's a condensed version of my rationale. He's old. Actually older than Bill Clinton, but a little younger than Jimmy Carter. He's clearly unhinged. He's clearly overweight. As an old (but younger than him) and chunky guy myself, I know a thing or two.

My main motivation for not voting for him though is that he is a despicable person and the antithesis of what I know to be a good leader. My career has afforded me opportunities to hear from some of the best experts in leadership: Ken Blanchard, John Maxwell, Seth Godin, Jack Welch, Daniel Goleman, Stephen R. Covey, Patrick Lencioni, Daniel H. Pink, Marcus Buckingham, Susan Cain, and Jim Collins, just to mention a few. I've read countless books on the subject. It all boils down to a few traits that are common in our ideal of good leadership: Accountability, Empathy, Authenticity, Focus and Vision, Positivity, Stability, The Ability to Build Strong Teams, etc. Trump exemplifies none of these. Consider the elements of Emotional Intelligence in the writings of Daniel Goleman:

Self-awareness – the ability to know one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values, and goals and recognize their impact on others while using gut feelings to guide decisions.

Self-regulation – involves controlling or redirecting one's disruptive emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.

Social skill – managing relationships to get along with others.

Empathy – considering other people's feelings especially when making decisions.

Motivation – being aware of what motivates them.

Trumps obvious traits are selfishness, narcissim, hate, misogyny, racism, lack of respect for marriage and family, no regard for the sanctity of human life, he makes a mockery of faith; from his own mouth, Trump: "Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness if I am not making mistakes?"

Lastly, he's a man who calls himself a "very, stable genius," but is so self-unaware. Like the old line goes, he could commit suicide by leaping from his ego to his I.Q.

So many let him off the hook: "That's just the way he is." "He doesn't mean a lot of what he says." "He just says out loud what a lot of us are thinking."

Here's my fear. If we make someone like Trump our leader, then others believe that his becomes the model of strong, effective leadership. Why would we hold up the worst among us as an example of leadership, much less humanity?

The counterpoint is usually:

• "He's the lessor or two evils." To which I mumble to myself, "He's his own brand of evil."

• “I don't like him, but I like his policies.” Surely we can find ways to impact policies AND maintain some semblence of civility, patriotism and democracy.

Let's listen to those who were "in the room(s) where it happened," those who were up close and personal to Trump. Mike Pence his own VP, who is not supporting him. All of the key leaders in his first term have endorsed his opponent, not because they agree with her on every policy point, but for the good of our country.

The last word comes from Liz Cheney: “If people are uncertain, if people are thinking, ‘Well, you know, I’m a conservative, I don’t know that I can support Vice President Harris,’ I would say, ‘I don’t know if anybody is more conservative than I am,’ I understand the most conservative value there is: to defend the Constitution.”

GOOD TIMES BAD TIMES

In the days of my youth
I was told what it means to be a man
Now I've reached that age
I've tried to do all those things the best I can
No matter how I try
I find my way to the same old jam
Good times, Bad times
You know I’ve had my share
When my woman left home
With a brown eyed man
Well, I still don't seem to care

So sang Led Zeppelin in 1969, in their song “Good Times Bad Times”. As an 18 year-old, I stupidly thought I could relate to that first stanza and still do--until you get to lines 9 through 11. Trying to ponder those lines today, I'm sure that if My Amazing-Missus were to leave home with a brown-eyed man, I would care deeply. Would I blame her? I'm not even going to speculate.

I loved this song. I loved the whole album. I remember playing it in a loop on the 8-track player in my 1940 Ford. While the poetry of the lyrics was worth the price of purchase, John Bonham's drum licks were the thing that kept me coming back. Just listen to what he does on Good Times Bad Times! At 18, those times seemed more simple, more good. Easier.

Of course the fact is that 1968 and 1969 and 1970 were some of the most tumultuous times in our nation's history: the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. Race riots, political unrest. A war with no end in sight. Protests over that war and the Kent State University killings.

And today? Are you ready for some good times or at least some good news?

These days, in my head, I'm drawing parallels between that Summer of '69 when I was 18 and this Summer of my 69th Year. I can say without doubt that in every season there are Good Times and Bad Times at the same time.

“We cannot be happy if we expect to live all the time at the highest peak of intensity. Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony. Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of sound and silence there would be no rhythm.”

— Thomas Merton from essays published in 1955 titled "No Man Is An Island

That title, "No Man Is An Island", reminds me of the Simon & Garfunkel song, "I Am A Rock. I Am An Island". So, which is it?

Think about where we are right now, if we assume that we are where the headlines of the day put us (although there’s some question about that). Now read Paul Simon's lyrics:

I Am a Rock
By Paul Simon

A winter's day
In a deep and dark December
I am alone
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow
I am a rock I am an island

I've built walls
A fortress deep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain
I am a rock I am an island

Don't talk of love
I've heard the words before
It's sleeping in my memory
I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died
If I never loved I never would have cried
I am a rock I am an island

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me
I am a rock I am an island

And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries

Let's consider the coronavirus as one of those current headlines. Some wisdom says isolation is prudent, and while it comes to physical contact at least for a time that may be true, but if we hunker down and bunker down and say stupid stuff like: "Not my Circus, not my monkeys" we sound as crass and naive as Simon's protagonist. I saw a report of a few politicians calling this the "Wuhan Virus". That is irresponsible, destructive and brings nothing to the quest of finding solutions. The solution, whatever it is, will be found as a community through cooperation, honesty, wisdom, scientific knowledge and prayer; not in idealogical isolation and fortress-building.

I was idealistic at 18. I am idealistic at 69. I believe that Good Times and Bad Times come and go together. Like Merton said, "...without the alternation of sound and silence there would be no rhythm."

Too Much Reality

Occasionally we had vertical hold issues at our house. If you grew up in 50s and 60s as I did, the Reality of television was that it was quirky, not only problems with vertical hold, but horizontal hold too. There were little knobs you could twist that helped sometimes to slow the roll of the image on the screen. Soon or later though, the man of the house would take the pegboard cover off the back of the TV set, jerk the tubes out, and take them to the Humpty Dumpty, Piggly Wiggly, or Snap-E-Sak to “test” them. Inevitably they would have gone “bad”. Hopefully we could get the new tubes and get them inserted before “Leave It To Beaver” came on.

Sometimes the problem was a fuzzy or snowy picture. Usually a twist of the rabbit ears would fix these issues. Sometimes drastic measures were called for. More aluminum foil had to be added to the telescopic ears. As I said; that was our television reality, if not reality television.

While I’m not an avid fisherman, I do enjoy wetting a worm or flinging a fly. Especially fly-fishing, standing in a cool stream hoping to outsmart a trout. I have a friend who makes regular trips to Alaska to fish. When I see his pictures from those trips, I envy the manliness of it all. I suppose if I were to go to Alaska to fish, I would hold in high regard the endorsements of Sarah Palin regarding a good fishing guide, places to go, bait to use, etc.

I remember as a kid fishing the waters of Lincoln, Union and Ouachita Parishs in northern Louisiana with my Uncle Steve and cousin Danny Roy. My Dad’s roots are there, down the road from the Robertson's of Duck Dynasty fame. It would be fun to go backand listen to the Robertson's tell stories of fishing and hunting there. I would love to hear them swap stories with Uncle Steve. When it comes to fishing or duck hunting I can’t think of any one’s advice I would respect more than that of Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Robertson Dynasty.

If Phil and Sarah were ever to visit Oklahoma, and want my opinion, there are a few fishing/hunting resources I could recommend to them. Probably, if I were to give them a call to let them know who I might or might not be endorsing for President they would tell me they don’t give a duck’s quack or polar bear’s ass whom I’m considering. And, to be honest, the feeling’s mutual.

Back to reality TV. How in the world have we come to the point where the most cherished endorsements for presidential candidates come from cartoonish “reality” TV stars? I am completely at peace and entertained by the relatives of these celebrities being on “Dancing With The Stars”. But something’s not right here. Maybe we need some more foil on our rabbit ears or a new vertical hold tube.

If I were going to choose a “reality” TV star to trust for a presidential endorsement, it would probably be Dale Gribble. I know, I know. Dale is just a cartoon neighbor to Hank Hill, but he is just as passionate about his worldview as are the other “reality” TV stars: Phil, Sarah and The Donald. And while Ted Cruz doesn’t have his own show, I have no doubt he would if given the opportunity. Show me a guy who will make a mockery of the U.S. Senate by standing on “the Senate Floor” for hours in a pretend filibuster, reading “Green Eggs & Ham”, and I will show you a guy begging for his own TV show.

Since Dale Gribble has not gone public with an endorsement, you might not be familiar with his views and opinions. Allow me to share a few gribbleisms:

“If all you’re goin’ on is my confession, forget it, I’m simply not credible.”
 
“That’s code for U.N. commissars telling Americans what temperature it’s gonna be in our outdoors. I say, let the world warm up! See what Boutros Boutros-By-Golly thinks about that! We’ll grow oranges in Alaska!”

“Guns don’t kill people. The government does!”
 
“If you want, I can teach you how to make a bomb out of a toilet paper roll and a stick of dynamite.”
 
“Whoa! Hold on, son! I want you to keep an open mind so you can make an informed decision! If you want, you can read a bloated government report on smoking, or go straight to the horse’s mouth and get the facts from the tobacco industry.”

“20 years. If your marriage was a murderer it would be out by now.”

“I’d like to live in your fairy-tale world, Hank, but the Fair Play For Cuba Committee is retro-fitting my mower to power Fidel’s one-man escape sub.”

“If you want to elect me, Dale Gribble, president of the Gun Club, running on the ‘Save-Your-Sorry-Ass’ platform, say aye.”

“They wanted to see me wet my pants from fear… but they’re too late!”

Amen Dale!

P.S. Maybe you’ve seen this image floating around the WWW (which of course means it could be true). Makes you wonder if Mr. Cruz has bigger heritage issues than just being born in Canada. Like Ricky used to say to Lucy back when TV wasn’t pretending to be “real”, “Someone’s got some splainin to do.”

candidate cruz and grandpa munster

Pops Goes To Washington

I know, I know, I promised that on this blog I would steer clear of politics, religion, and NCAA Football Conference alignment. So, let's be clear, although I am mentioning Washington and politicians, this is not meant to be a taking of sides or partisan commentary.

Could it be that I have some superpower for negotiation, something Washington could use right now?

This story may make it sound like I'm comparing our elected "leaders" to a two-year-old in the toy department at Cracker Barrel, well...

Understand this: I want the love and unwavering devotion of my grand-girls more than anything, and I'm not above buying it with cheap junk and trinkets. Heck, we (the human collective) have used those tactics forever. But occasionally a line must be drawn (oooo, so tough!)

This is Harper animatedly making her argument for five new purses. At least I think that's what she was telling me. Most of it was in an unknown tongue.

Recently I had to call on my negotiation gifts and some half-truths to get out of Cracker Barrel without solely funding their fourth quarter profits. YES, you read that correctly I went toe to toe with a two-year-old at Cracker Barrel, left the building with nothing but the pancakes and apple juice in our bellies AND she still loves me.

Maybe I'll write a book. 

My only hesitation in posting this is I don't want to give anyone the impression that my youngest grand-girl is in any way as stubborn, unreasonable, selfish, arrogant, delusional, and pouty as the politicians I am suggesting need professional help.

In the event I may be slipping into political commentary. I'll stop, now.