How do you solve the problem of election fatigue?
For the past few days I’ve been burying my head in the sand. I have avoided reading articles about the campaign and the anticipated issues around the count. I don’t care about the “closing arguments” of the candidates. All I care about is that the president’s junket through the swing states is his “farewell tour.”
The closest I’ve come to anything political is listening to Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. Twice. I always learn something fun when I listen to that show. This week I learned that the Trump administration had decided to hire mall Santas to participate in an ad campaign to convince people that the soon-to-be-released vaccine was safe. As an incentive the Santas would be one of the first to be given the vaccine. I loved hearing the banter about this foolish plan among the panelists who imagined Santa telling children that they don’t want a bicycle, they want a drug instead. Or the elves leading the children away and poking them with a needle.
I’ve been reading human interest stories in the New York Times instead of speculation and predictions based upon hopes and fears. I’d much rather lose myself in a love story or learn how to cook comfort food or read about new releases on Netflix than feel my blood pressure rise over something I have no control of anymore.
For the past few weeks I’ve been reading Hamilton by Ron Chernow. I’m a slow reader and take notes along the way. Besides, I’ve been doing home projects to prepare for winter. I finally broke down and purchased a carport so I no longer have to deal with the snow on the roof of my Subaru, which has an annoying built-in roof rack. All of that is to explain why it has taken me weeks to read Hamilton.
My main reason for reading Hamilton was to learn more about the history of the founding of our country and why slavery was the accepted evil that it was. I also wanted to read the book before I finally broke down and streamed the musical.
What I’ve learned from reading Hamilton is when George Washington was elected to be the first president there were no political parties in existence. But that collaborative smokescreen did not last long. Soon there was the Federalist Party led by Alexander Hamilton, Washington, John Adams, and John Jay, and the Republican Party led by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and Aaron Burr.
The animosity between the parties was on full view through the vitriolic pamphlets written under pseudonyms by all concerned. Reading about the accusations leveled during that time period is like clicking back and forth between Fox and CNN. It is amazing how little things have changed over the course of time. By the way, in my opinion, the Republicans would be Fox and the Federalists would be CNN in that scenario.
I’ve come to love reading well-written biographies because you get to know the subject of the book in all their glory and through all their faults. Hamilton rose from obscurity to become the brilliant architect of the government and the fiscal mechanisms of the country, but he was also human as he succumbed to a love affair while his wife and children were summering in the more temperate climate of Albany. Sadly, he got trapped in a blackmail scheme and because everybody knew the business of everyone else in those days he got caught. It would dog him for the rest of his life.
I also learned that Philadelphia suffered from an epidemic of yellow fever in 1793, which reminded me of our pandemic. Hamilton caught the fever and nearly died, but political foes accused Hamilton of faking it. Does that sound familiar? Did Trump really get COVID-19 or was it a political stunt?
Back then news took days, weeks, or months to disseminate. I often wish I lived back in those “simpler” times. Social media is killing human discourse. After watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix, I have forever ended using Facebook. Plus, for some reason I got booted out yesterday and they wanted my password. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’m forever done with Facebook!
As I write, in about 24 hours I get to finally go cast my vote. I made a deliberate choice to vote in person because I live in the North Country and, because of our sparse population, I figured it would be a safe thing to do especially because I religiously wear a facemask. I voted in person during the September primary and it felt very safe and well organized.
Also, a couple weeks ago, before I started burying my head in the sand, I read about Trump’s threat to declare victory based upon the vote totals on Election Day and before all the mail-in ballots were counted. I know legally he cannot do that, but I want to play it safe.
Will we wake up this morning knowing the results of the election? I don’t have a crystal ball so I can’t answer that question. All I do know is I will return to being a news junkie and will be keeping my fingers crossed that a new day is dawning and next year we will no longer be inundated with daily news about the stupidity coming from the White House.
(Susannah Colt lives in Whitefield. She can be reached at susannahbcolt@gmail.com.)