Loose Ends, #5

High Tides and Report Cards

Call me shallow, but I have had two bits of good news this week.

The first was the emergency created by hurricane Sandy.  As I write, the rains and wind are still blowing leaves from our trees, bringing an abrupt end to what little remained of the fall leaf-viewing season.

Beyond the coincidental fact that skeletal trees work better for Halloween than leafy trees, however gorgeous, this leaf-drop is not necessarily good news. Sadly, the trees outside my workplace, which produce leaves of various vivid colors and patterns, are nearly bare now.

Sandy has also caused deaths and created enormous hardships for millions along the Atlantic seaboard.

On the other hand, for my narrower purposes, Sandy has brought with it a brief, though temporary, hiatus to the political windstorm that has raged for, well, for nearly four years. Any respite, clearly, is welcome, even if it is delivered via the costly disruption of a late season hurricane.

I live in a community that is largely Republican and in a county that likes to express its "conservatism." I registered as a Democrat when I moved here nearly thirty years ago, in part to refute the received wisdom that all God's people vote Republican. Most of the time I vote for the Democratic candidate, but not always.  Sometimes there is no Democrat on the ballot in this county. Once or twice I even voted for the Republican, perhaps as lesser evil.

More importantly, if I were registered Republican, I would count as one more undifferentiated statistic in the great political discussion that allows amateurs to masquerade as experts.

I like to maintain what we might call a "thinking posture" and attempt to reserve my vote for the better choice. I read history, for example. I am also among the shrinking number of those who still read the newspapers; and I watch several newscasts, beginning with the BBC. What I don't do is watch political talk shows, although they are hard to avoid.

One immediate benefit of my position is that I understand how some problems have a longer shelf life than four years.  Think "wars in the Middle East" here, for example. Or Roe v Wade. Or poverty in America. Or the persistence of race as an issue in a post-racial America.

Sadly, my "thinking posture" is not necessarily shared, a judgment I make based on the quality of lawn signs and TV ads that appear locally with increasing frequency as the election nears. Some apparently believe this is the most important election of their lifetime, as the urging usually goes, although it is not the most important election of my now considerable lifetime.

This brings me to my second bit of good news.  In the mail yesterday I received my first ever "Voter Report Card."  Guess what?  I not only received an "Excellent" for voting in the last five general elections, but more importantly I also scored better than my neighbors! Being a good neighbor is important, but being better than my neighbors is simply great!

Imagine my excitement when this Excellent Voter Report Card arrived on a day that the campaigns took the day off.

What has me a bit worried, however, is the sentence on my Report Card that indicates my rating is based on "public records for your current address only." I have lived in a number of places during my adult life.  What do you suppose a check of other addresses would turn up?  Voter fraud?

I am planning to vote for the President, as one might expect. Now that I have a streak going, I would be remiss to skip this election, wherever it ranks on the "important election" list. All in all, it's not actually a hard decision for me. I have a long memory.

More important than my personal choice, however, is this:  On Wednesday after the election, while all the things that annoy us are still fresh in our minds, let's start thinking about campaign reform.  We should start by limiting the political season -- not only to improve our quality of life, but also to allow elected officials time to concentrate on doing their jobs rather than campaigning.  Then we need to find a way to reign in campaign financing. The PAC system is frightening. Then, if anyone is left standing, let's tackle the tricky question of truth in advertising.

These are highly political issues, of course, so clearly we need a commission that is non-partisan rather than congressional.  But I think it can be done if we set aside the what's-in-it-for me and the I'm-a-victim positions that have come to characterize our political thinking.

Let's treat it as a problem to be solved, a problem that needs to be solved. That's what Americans are good at, right?