What Would My Father Have Thought?

I noticed the date on my watch a few days ago and realized it was the anniversary of my father's passing: September 15th, 1995 — 29 years ago. The date usually gets away each year without me noticing. Although my father and I were very much alike (I'm told), we didn't share a strong bond. Alcohol got the better of him later in life, leaving most of our visits in his last 10 years disappointing for me. 

I was relieved for him when he died six weeks shy of his 70th birthday and three weeks shy of the verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. He was fixated on the trial for most of the last year of his life, confined to an easy chair in the living room and tethered to an oxygen machine to help manage his emphysema.

I sometimes wonder what my dad would have thought of our politics today. He spent his career in finance and subscribed to The Wall Street Journal, so I considered him a conservative, but he mainly was a cynic of all politicians. He had much disdain for Nixon. I remember coming home after my enlistment in the Navy and unpacking Nixon's memoir from a box of belongings in my temporary room in the basement. He saw it and wondered why I would waste good money on it. He was right. My own conservative roots go back a long way with me—even supporting Nixon in my 6th-grade class's straw poll of students in the 1968 election. 

We didn't discuss politics much, but I have little doubt that my dad would've rolled his eyes at Trump and those who support him. He could spot a carnival-barking con man as well as anyone could. He and my mother used to say that they canceled each other's votes on election day. 

Conservative Christians are fond of saying that God is protecting Trump so he can become president again. I have a different view. Perhaps God is protecting Trump so he can finally face justice when he loses in November, and his followers will finally see him for the fraud he is (wishful thinking, I know). Not only that, but possibly, God caused Biden to fail in his debate with Trump, so he would step aside and allow Kamala Harris to run as president instead. We can all play that nonsensical game.

Republicans have ratcheted up their demonization of immigrants of color. Trump and Vance have been traveling the country spewing lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. Last week, at the only debate between Harris and Trump, Trump stated: "In Springfield, they are eating the dogs. The people that came in, they are eating the cats. They’re eating – they are eating the pets of the people that live there." 

It's explicit racism meant to demonize immigrants and to incite Trump's supporters to anger and energize them, and none of it is true. But it works. The overt racism has led to death threats and bomb threats at schools in Springfield. I liked Kamala Harris's reply about it a few days ago. Contrast Kamala's words with the words of the racist lunatic. Seriously, how does he poll at anything above a fraction of a percent?

A couple of weeks ago, Tammy and I drove north to her hometown of Babbitt, MN, to visit her sister Cindy for a few days. Babbitt is a small Iron Range town of 1400 near Ely, on the doorstep of the Boundary Waters. I did a fair amount of walking, golfing, and bumming around with the ladies. We even took in a high school football game, watching Tammy and Cindy’s nephew Leo and his Ely Timberwolves teammates win their first game of the season! It was a pleasant few days away.

Additional reading.

That's all I've got.