It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, as Mr.
Rogers would say. Here in the east, there’s a touch of autumn in the
air. Leaves are thinking about turning color, mornings are brisk.
Afternoons can be chilly.
A few hundred miles to the south, a hurricane is
preparing to come ashore, propelled by hundred mile an hour winds and the
expected downpours and surges that follow. In the west, fires burn relentlessly
and there’s no place to hide.
Nature adjusts our environments. That’s
why they call it nature. It may seem more intense this year, or maybe
we’re just all slightly paralyzed by the events coming from so many places at
once.
In Mississippi, water will seep under the best
of doors. In California, Oregon and Washington, smoke will seep under the
best of doors.
And everywhere there’s the virus. And the election. And, as usual,
there’s the rule of money. It’s easy to blame trump for all our
troubles. But trump has a lot of help, some of it involuntary.
It’s September and Latecoming Serious People are
starting to contemplate the election now a month and a half away and visible on
the horizon. And strange as it seems to the Full Time Serious People,
many people have failed to make up their minds.
There are two things that will happen: 1. The
irrational and the cult followers will dig in their heels. 2. Hundreds of
millions of dollars will be flushed away in puffs of smoke or torrents of
water, a sink drain or toilet because the politicians who lead us believe that
the more money they waste, the more they will convince us to vote their way.
Really? Does all that advertising for and
against candidates and issues make a difference? The conventional wisdom
says “yes,” and has data to prove it. If that really IS true, what does
it say about us?
The unconventional wisdom says “no.” All
that money could go for such luxuries as helping the un- and under-employed,
feeding hungry children, developing new vaccines for the anti vaccers to decry,
no matter the lives saved.
Who benefits from this spending crime? TV
stations and networks, billboard landlords, occasionally a walking dead
newspaper or ten and maybe contributors who think they’re buying presidential
access they can use to increase their already bloated fortunes.
What does all that advertising say about the way
the spenders see the voters? It says we’re all a bunch of mindless
cretins who will believe the last thing we’re told.
There’s reason to believe that’s truer than it
should be.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but
you’re welcome to them. ®
Any Questions? wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2020
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