Raise your right hand if you would like for the election to be tomorrow.
Since that’s not going to happen, raise both hands if you’d like for the cesspool-level attacks to cease between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Both sides are shouting, “Liar, liar, pants on fire!”
Misinformation seems to be the standard in today’s political arena. Our presidential candidates are spewing anything that they believe will sway voters to their side.
And promises.
My goodness, who’s going to pay for all these promises? You know the answer. The poor old taxpayers will, no matter who wins.
Thinking about political promises, I think about the late Gov. Gene Talmadge, 1884-1946. The Georgia governor was a master campaigner, whether you believed him or not.
Here’s one story about the power of Old Gene:
“They tell me they are going to move Stone Mountain.”
“Gee whiz, they can’t do that.”
“Old Gene says they are.”
“Well, where they gonna put it?”
That myth is older than me, but that’s the kind of trust some voters had in “The Wild Man from Sugar Creek” 80 years ago. (And if you haven’t read William Anderson’s book by that title, I suggest that you get a copy. It’s an educational and often comical traipse through a Georgia era.)
About a dozen years ago, the Georgia Press Association asked me to portray Old Gene at its annual convention. I thought it’d be fun, so I researched and wrote my Talmadge speech. Wearing a seersucker suit, a flowered necktie, a pair of his trademark red suspenders, and black-and-white wingtips, I headed to Jekyll Island to get on the “stump.”
Oh, I had to dye my hair coal-black. In the dying process in the kitchen, some of the dye splashed on the front of the dishwasher. When the spot was wiped off, the color of the appliance disappeared, too. Maybe that’s what happened to some of my brain cells.
But I digress.
Back to 2024.
I am among the Americans who want this election to giddy up and get over. Some candidate is going to win, and maybe your candidate loses. Regardless, I hope our nation can start healing on Nov. 6.
Regardless of who wins, we don’t want a repeat of Jan. 6, 2021.
Continued bitterness between political parties can further rip the fabric of our beloved United States of America. Someone smarter than me said, “Holding a grudge is the same as swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
We don’t want the American spirit to die from being poisoned by bitterness. Here are some other people’s thoughts on that:
“I can become quite angry and burning with anger, but I have never been bitter. Bitterness is a corrosive, terrible acid. It just eats you and makes you sick.”
—Maya Angelou, 1928-2014, American author, poet
“Don’t allow your wounds to transform you into someone you are not.”
—Paulo Coelho, 1947-, Brazilian lyricist, novelist
“Hurt gives away to bitterness, bitterness to anger. Travel too far that road, and the way is lost.”
—Terry Brooks, 1940-, American writer
“Don’t be so bitter about a bad experience from your past that you miss the opportunities in front of you.”
—Robert Kiyosaki, 1947-, American businessman, author
“Imprisonment of the body is bitter; imprisonment of the mind is worse.”
—Thornton Wilder, 1897-1975, American playwright, novelist
You get the gist of what these folks are saying.
So, when Nov. 6 arrives, let’s keep bitterness from infecting the election outcome.
But here’s something to remember about all those bold campaign promises that are drenched with cesspool water.
Even Old Gene—with all his political power—couldn’t budge Stone Mountain 1 inch.
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com
