‘And you may ask yourself, how did I get here?’
There were left hooks and right uppercuts. The crowd couldn’t look away as they cringed with each blast and low blow. There was cheering and there were muttered remarks of disgust under the tongues in this presence of this public spectacle. It wasn’t a heavyweight match. It was the second presidential debate in the 2016 election this past Monday evening.
Sitting in the back corner of Mad Anthony’s in Waynesville, I was surrounded by a handful of folks, all us wondering aloud, “Are they ever going to actually discuss the real issues?” Each question posed by the moderators quickly deflected before Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump turned to each other in a battle of skeletons in the closet, rather than diving into the topics that matter to the American public.
So, as the Talking Heads eloquently sang, “And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” It seems whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, Independent or undecided, we’re all asking ourselves that same question.
Remember back in the 2000 election when, in essence, you really couldn’t tell George W. Bush and Al Gore apart? There were slight differences, but both were pretty much the same boring ol’ politician, as if you were standing there in the paint section of you local hardware store, trying to decide whether to paint your house “Rookwood Dark Brown” or “Fairfax Brown” (hint: they are identical).
And now? It’s like standing there trying to decide whether to paint your house something resembling a pink flamingo on acid or that color on the walls of a rave club when they break open Day-Glo bottles and go all Jackson Pollack underneath the black lights.
My advice? Take a deep breath and exhale slowly. The world outside your door isn’t going to burst into flames the morning after Election Day.
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In terms of “standing at the edge of the cliff,” it seems we’ve been doing that for asl long as I can remember, and probably as far back as you can remember, too. One honest truth about Americans is our innate ability to always figure out how to balance our country out at the last possible second. We tend to squeak out some odd sense of clarity and purpose when the going gets tough, sometimes too tough, where international allies and enemies peer over at us through binoculars and say dumbfounded, “How do they do it?”
Sit down and think hard over what you want as a voting public. And I’m not just talking about the presidency. I’m talking about your congressional and state candidates who are also on the ballot. What about those county commissioners or school board folks, too? They are the foundation that is meant to balance out everything up the ladder.
Don’t forget that. Remember, we’re all in this together. One big family of 319 million people. Like most families, we don’t all get along. But, at some point, we all sit down at the table together and try to make nice. And with the holiday season right around the corner, my hopes are to see y’all across from me, to the left of me, and to the right.
“Same as it ever was, same as it ever was...”
(Garret K. Woodward can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
