The Big Game

So, once again I just have to blog something.

I took a break for a while, because there is a lot of life going on around me. And there is a lot to enjoy in my house, and a lot of thinking to do.

Besides, a lot of other people who are actually better than I am have been filling the opinion columns in a lot of newspapers, big ones like the New York Times and the Washington Post, and small ones all across the country.

Yes, I do look at daily papers across the nation randomly. Call it a hobby. Some of them are really remarkable. In Florida and South Carolina and Texas, in Las Vegas and Kansas City. Do it a few times and you might be impressed.

Still, once again, I have the annoying feeling that a lot of the media is missing the big picture as the world is falling into chaos. Disease, racial strife, a collapsing economy, disorder in our streets, murders by police - it’s hard to decide what to look at first.

Well, our print and electronic media are covering it all, but sometimes it seems a little too much. It’s enough to make you want to look at old reruns of Law and Order.

Yet there is really one thing we should all be watching. The clock is ticking, and the ground rules still haven’t been agreed on.

Oh, wait. You might think I’m talking about the return of baseball. I admit I have been watching the Kia Tigers tear up the league from their South Korean stadium in Gwangju, but that’s not what I’m taking about.

The clock I am talking about is the countdown to Election Day.

You all know it’s coming. Same time in November, first Tuesday after the first Monday. Regular as clockwork.

Since we’re in June now, that gives us in the body politic about five months to decide on their candidate. Most of us have already made up our minds, and there likely will be some surprises as we march to November. But there is one small group which seems to be quietly looking at the contest and coming up with some grim decisions.

That would be the Republican office holders who more and more will be forced to choose whether to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Donald Trump or to break away from him.

There are lots of Republicans up for re-election. Some in Washington, others in state houses all over the country. Governors judges, state legislators, special election contests - almost too many to count.

With a lot of primaries already over, some candidates who ran as Republicans by swearing their loyalty to President Trump should be switching a bit to appeal to independents and (gasp) even some Democrats.

And we have a president talking about going all around the country to hold rallies for his base, and will want local officials standing shoulder to shoulder with him to pick up every vote he can get.

I figure those Republicans can keep the ball in the air for maybe another five weeks before being forced to finally make a public statement about their support for the President. Maybe longer if there are big demonstrations about racial injustice in their state, or if there is a big spike in Coronavirus. Maybe there will be a huge jump in unemployment claims, or an outbreak of foreclosures.

Now as the world keeps buzzing around, and all those interesting and scary things are happening, we can wonder about the November surprise and where it will come from - the White House, Russia, China? Maybe North Korea, or our allies in Europe. Maybe Jared Kushner will reveal a new Middle East peace plan, although even Donald Trump says that would be very hard.

For me, I will be happy to watch the pages turning on the big calendar on my basement door, and waiting for October to show up. It won’t be the run-off to the World Series, of course. It will be something more important. A bigger game. As big as life itself.

Be safe and vote. Good advice now. Good advice in November.