By this time, eight days have passed since the mid-term elections, most of us are aware of the outcomes across the nation and here in our little Valley. Because I am working with a bit of a left hand handicap, the act of typing is slow and not without some discomfort, so in order to meet my deadline I begin now.
While I have no idea what conspiracies have arisen regarding election results or what dubious legal arguments may have been filed in opposition to results, I do opine it was the largest, and most needed, repudiation of a national leader in my memory. Viva, vox populi!
The work of setting the nation and its residents on the path of recovery from oligarchal rule by fear and separation will be tough years, but I am confidant any nation who just pulled a massive E Pluribus Unum act and placed multiple women, muslims, gays, democratic socialists and trans people into positions of power can pull it off. And to help us negotiate the path back to democratic principles, we will have much of the free world to help us.
Never in the history of American elections have our foreign allies been so joyous at the repudiation of a political party and its shyster leader. To witness the outburst of celebrations in countries around the world when the final midterm votes were revealed was a balm to my soul. Never has an American president been so hated by so many around the globe. The only people who didn’t see corruption were those who fell for the lies and thus became victims of their own party. They are mostly silent now that their vaulted leader has been rejected and is now nothing more than the figurehead of a failed party, a very lame canard a la bigarade.
At home, it is now time for the judicial system to step up and mete out justice to those who have done so much damage to American culture no matter who they are or position they hold. Those that need to be brought before the courts are every name listed in the Trump-Epstein files and every person who profited from the corruption of this failed reality TV personality and his nefarious ilk. And most assuredly, the ICE agents responsible for the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pritti should face justice, as well as those individuals responsible for death and injury to the thousands that are unjustifiably incarcerated by a racist regime.
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On the local election scene, I see on the Monterey County Elections site (as of Friday last) that voter turnout in King City was poor to say the least. In one case, a candidate received 165 votes out of a possible 689 registered voters. I suppose because the candidate ran unopposed, many felt it unnecessary to exercise their franchise, but still that is a very low response. In another race where the candidate was the only one to seek the seat, a write-in candidate movement was initiated but I only see the one name, with 253 votes out of 1,362 possible, and as yet no count of any write-ins. Let us hope when that final vote is tallied, it shows a better voter turnout.
In the case of the highly promoted Measure P, voters overwhelmingly passed the tax increase; but did so with only a little over 27% of voters responding. It is dismaying how many citizens fail to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to have a say in collective governance.
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The words ubiquitous assimilation and doublespeak when combined lead to lack of imagination; and imagination is not something one wishes to lose. Let us look at the first two words: ubiquitous may be defined as “everywhere all the time” and when coupled with assimilation, which means to take in, we have a state of “always absorbing everything all the time.” Now to doublespeak, from Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984,” a word which implies one “holds opposing beliefs at the same time and believing both are true.” This latter leads to a deliberate belief in lies all the while knowing they are lies.
And what, you ask, does this have to do with anything? It is in the opinion of experts, an opinion I share, that the constant barrage of images via social media is robbing our youth of imagination. The never-ending scroll of photos, videos and words our society absorbs has made it unnecessary to use our own minds to conjure up scenes of imagination. And what, you ask, is the remedy? According to the same experts, the road to a healthy imagination leads to books: reading is the mother of imagination.
We are lucky here in King City to have a wonderful library with a very dedicated and energetic staff. I like to use the alliterative term “Library Ladies,” but it is not accurate as there are two gentlemen also on staff, so we’ll just go with the all-inclusive librarians; or as many would say, bibliotecarios. It is their job to introduce reading to the very young and encourage the rest of us to include ongoing reading as part of our lives; and they do this job very well.
I encourage the young, the middle-aged and seniors to visit these nice people and see what programs and events take place in that red brick building beyond the wonderful world of imagination that reading brings. There is an impressive line-up of activities throughout the year, something for everyone.
My recent reads have been Steinbeck. In the past two months I have read “The Grapes of Wrath,” “In Dubious Battle,” “The Winter of our Discontent” and just finished “Pastures of Heaven” with “Once There Was a War” and “The Moon is Down” next in line. Somewhere in there was Truman Capote’s powerful “In Cold Blood;” a far better read that any of Mr. Steinbeck’s stuff (but don’t tell anyone I said that).
Take care. Peace.
Columnist Steve Wilson may be reached at sc**********@***oo.com.
