VOTING FOR THE PATH FORWARD, SO VOTE

Take a moment from your busy day and consider, if you will, the path forward.

It’s that way, this way, your way, my way, but it’s forward.

How can you tell if you’re moving forward?

By not falling back. Follow me for more wisdom behind doors number 1, 2, or 3.

The following is a personal request, mine, to all voting aged readers: VOTE.

The path forward is through the ballot box. Before another word I’d like to make one thing perfectly clear:

I like a good soapbox.

I’m also on the midterm bandwagon.

So why harp on asking people, readers, bots and all, to vote?

Because I like to think that taking a half an hour every few years to read a little and scribble a little is the secret sauce of a strong nation. And who doesn’t like a strong nation?

 

I’ll break it down:

My high school wrestling coach was an all-year-long wrestling guy.

Rich Gabbard was his first state Greco-Roman champion.

Gary West was his first national champion.

John Wisti wrestled two years and won state folk style.

The man could coach.

One summer he was the American Greco-Roman coach at that year’s Junior World Tournament in Japan.

Robin Richards took second in the world that summer after a junior year of high school where he won everything there was to win.

One of the coach’s former wrestlers is in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame with him.

The coach inspired me to sign up for state and national tournaments where I met my peers.

They were all strong and all got my respect.

We were all moving forward, or else we wouldn’t have been in those tournaments.

I think of it as a ‘Life Lesson.’

 

The Path Forward

How many times have you heard puss-eyed, puffy-faced, old men doing their best imitations of young men with their lives still ahead of them?

Due to my baby boomer status, I know a lot of older people. I also know millennials, a lot of them. And I’ve got a puss-eye.

Who best to trust with the future, Old Puss Eye and his merry band of marauders cutting and chopping and chipping before admitting their mistakes, or the janitorial crew, the custodians of the constitution, the defenders of democracy?

To the average, every day, walk in the park American, Old Puss Eye could be the answer to questions unasked.

No, wait. He is the answer they’ve been waiting for if they’ve been praying with their preacher for higher prices in America, instability abroad, and the ongoing showmanship from the big stage.

If you’ve seen enough? Vote.

If you’ve heard enough? Vote. (millennials)

 

That’s a long stairway up and a long stairway down.

When you vote you’re making a personal decision which way you want to go, then accept the results.

By not voting you’re giving up your place to some moron following the advice of a known crank.

By voting, and accepting the results like a normal person, you can walk the walk:

 

You got to walk, that lonesome valley
Well, you got to walk, it for yourself
Ain’t nobody else, can walk it for you
You got to walk, that valley for yourself

My mother had to walk, that lonesome valley
Well, she had to walk, it for herself
There’s nobody else, can walk it for you
Yes, she had to walk, a’that valley for herself

Oh yes, you got to walk, that lonesome valley
Well, you got to walk, it for yourself
There’s nobody else, can walk it for you
You got to walk…

My father had to walk, that lonesome valley
He had to walk, it for his’self
There’s nobody else, can walk it for him
A’he had to walk…

 

Don’t Walk Away

Problems occur when one person works overtime, works all night and parties everyday, to convince you and I to either lay down an give up, or vote. And he’s convincing, a great salesman.

And we believe them because why not?

We already know the top man is the smartest man in the history of smart who knows more than anyone in any room anywhere about any topic.

Go ahead and give reddit a click.

The personal problem is balancing your own experience and knowledge in one hand, and what you’re told to believe in the other.

Voting as if the person on the ballot is the smart guy won’t make the candidate any smarter. (lipstick, pig, etc.)

It won’t make you smarter when you see the house of cards tip, tip, tipping.

Should you vote as if a land-locked, cement-headed, city-boy is on the ballot? Nooooo.

Should you vote for a sniffing, indifferent, man of questionable wealth and taste? Nooooo.

A vote for the locker room talking, kancle-walking, dictator-stroking old man?

Noooooo.

 

PS:

Vote for the people who can do the job they’re asking for, as you understand it.

If you don’t understand it, vote for the person endorsed by those who do.

Remember, you’re not a socialist or a communist, but stay on the look out.

If it all sounds menacing, maybe look up a few definitions.

 

PSS:

If the center of attention nods off at his desk surrounded by alert people, don’t pile on. (Also don’t vote for insomniacs.)

The center of attention sends shit-talking posts on social media in the middle of the night like a mean girl? (Don’t vote for more of that.)

Everyone is going through things we know nothing about.

One person seems intent on dragging us all along with his shadow candidacy on every ballot.

Instead of, “Vote like it’s me on the ballot,” change it to something more meaningful.

Vote like it’s you on the ballot, you and your wife, your daughter, your granddaughter, your husband, your boys.

When the non-voting, the non-participant, for the greatest experimental democracy in world history says, “Fuck it,” they’re not moving forward.

They’re reserving their place on their new street.

 

 

Go ahead and ignore the invitation to make a better way forward than what you see.

Ignore the warnings, but look for signs.

A Dead End sign doesn’t mean floor it, hit the gas, and fly on the wing of others.

Just around the corner on the wings of others:

 

We don’t know what happened?

Yeah, we do. You ignored the signs, the guardrails, and didn’t pay attention to the path forward.

Give yourself a shake and take half an hour to fill out your ballots.

Check the Voters’ Guide for any questions.