November's Coming!

Well now! To date, this has been the most interesting mid-term election that I can ever recall. Seriously, can you call to mind a more important mid-term election?

The ground swell of interest in the direction our country is heading is unprecedented. The national emergence of the Tea Party continues to baffle both pundits and politicos of every stripe. I love it!

On a personal level I have been doing my own unofficial assessment of where people are when it comes to the election to be held in just 34 days from when you read this in the Ripon Record. For the past number of months when I have been discussing various matters of a political nature with folks, whether I know them or not, I will slip this statement in at some point: November’s coming! It doesn’t seem to matter whether we’ve been in deep discussion or simply a comment has been made of a political nature, usually regarding healthcare, joblessness, our military, illegal immigration, or whatever, but the moment I say, “November’s coming!” I get this look, eye-to-eye, followed by a slight nod of the head with an accompanying affirmation such as, “You’d better believe it!”

I have never seen people so interested in any election, mid-term or not. I mean, it’s almost our duty as American’s to not really care about off-year elections! The 2010 election is clearly breaking from the norm.

Just to be clear about all this, I do not see people with seething anger, or even the slightest hint of racial biases, or even a loyalty to any political party. What I do see are Americans who are fed up with the foolishness that passes for the United States Government. The people we have elected and entrusted with the country’s business have violated that trust. Have they all failed us? No. But the system inside the DC Beltway is so broken that even the good ones we elect to Congress are immediately neutralized before they can get their briefcases unpacked on Capitol Hill.

As you know, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for reelection in November. Many of the talk shows on radio and TV have mentioned that there is such a grass-roots movement spreading across the land that every one of these seats are open. Not one single incumbent should presume the seat is theirs until after the final ballot is counted.

So, I asked myself, “Why this strong surge of support for candidates who hold to conservative values and principles; ideals originally espoused by our founding fathers?”

Here’s my take on it. My generation, known as “Boomers” (Baby Boomers from the close of WWII, 1945-1960) is the generation currently running the government, industry and the military. We are also the last ones who were taught patriotism and fidelity to God and country before the crippling events of the 1960s. This decade of the 60s nearly undid our nation. For those unfamiliar with these events, here is a recap, although it is not exhaustive: JFK assassinated; LBJ’s Great Society; Vietnam; Race riots in the inner cities; Campus unrest; Hippy movement; MLK assassinated; and RFK assassinated, followed by the Watergate debacle in 1972. We have yet to recover from this time period. I suspect we won’t fully until my generation is fully departed from planet Earth.

We were educated by teachers who understood and valued the warp and woof of this nation, and who unashamedly taught “American Exceptionalism” to their students. My generation knows the greatness of this nation. We know that God has blessed our nation from sea to shining sea. We know that it is American love of freedom that has willingly spilled the blood of her sons and daughters so others could know freedom! We know what this country was in the past, and even though we were the rebellious ones a few short decades ago, we don’t like what we see happening now. We realize that the next generations will not have the experiences of a robust and invigorated America to remember. Therefore, we’re the ones who will be going to the polls to vote in November in a show of force to turn our nation back from the brink of disaster; back to her roots; back to the values and ideals that made her a great nation. She can be that great nation again!

It’s an exciting day to live in America! Vote! It is a right paid for by the blood of patriots.

November’s coming!