Article By: Curtis Beaird
Photography By: Norma W. Beaird
We all know at this point in the presidential election that a crowd of authorities have stepped up to analyze, measure, discuss, tabulate, speculate, poll, question, second-guess, and otherwise entertain us, with their "take" on what is obvious to us.
My study is neighborhood-based rather than scientific. It is down-home rather than sophisticated. It was conducted over coffee rather than with a computer. I have no way to calculate the percentage of error. I have no reason to invoke the mystery of science for authority. We, you and I, are people. We have brains. We can think on our own and make choices. We do it every day. The only authority I have will occur when and if what I'm saying rings true for you.
Basically, it's simple. Talk politics today and you find two groups. The true believers, both Republicans and Democrats, are enthralled with their person no matter what. They vote as they always have no matter what. Within the true believers group are those new to the voting process. These folks are the audience. They are props in theater seats at an alleged debate, hoping to grab an autograph at the end of the political show. They are simply enthralled. They faint at the presence of their icon of choice. They applaud when the would-be leader blows his nose.
The second group is made up of what were once true believers, who figured out that the person at the top goes deaf not long after coming to power. They realized long ago that the leader follows drumbeats that have little to do with the neighborhood, and a lot to do with the power that always surrounded him, but swamped him following election.
This second group has many names. They are called Independents, the disenfranchised (don't you love that word), swing voters or....... just plain angry. Talk to these folks and you will hear a line you don't and won't hear from your favorite political analyzer T. V. personality person........"We don't have a choice."
It's scary, isn't it? Once upon a time there was a floating center, kind of an open middle ground. Good citizens vote, we told ourselves. And, those who managed to hear through the propaganda-campaign messages that prepared the way for the next string of broken promises, would vote for the lesser of two evils. More than a few over their voting life have voted for one candidate in an attempt to vote against the other. The line went something like this, "I really don't like either of them but, I dislike him less. I’ll vote for him." I know that doesn't sound too American-dreamish, but it did and does happen.
Enter the eternal campaign of 2012. If we listen to the current siren song, we would be lead to believe we are on the cusp of a new day, maybe not a chicken-in-every-pot, but at least a pill in everyone's pocket. Oh, happy day.
Why then does the neighborhood talk no choice? Is it possible that today’s candidates fell deaf to the neighborhood before the campaign even started? Is it possible that candidates practice selective hearing even when they are forced to listen?
Is it possible the neighborhood has figured out that we are not going to inform the Whitehouse of much of anything? Is it possible the neighborhood knows that Washington does not listen? Is it possible the neighborhood has figured out that we will be told what is important to us, what is best for us, and, how and when that best will show up?
Is it possible that the next president, the next commander-in-chief, regardless of who it is, has already fumbled the ball so badly that they are doing the last thing they would ever think of doing .......creating a third party? My guess is, if enough people go long enough without a choice, they will find one.
II Chronicles 7:14
If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Copyright 2012, Curtis Beaird. All rights reserved.
