Older and Wiser

Our neighbor Barney brought in a scrap metal dealer to rid his property of some automotive wonders. Today's photographs, by Jan, document that removal.

Today I want to welcome GQ back. The Great Questioner is disappointed in the crop of current politicians, and wonders if this is because we're older and wiser, or better informed, or are they really just worse than they were the past?

I've been thinking about this question for a while. I waited to respond for meetings that had been scheduled with two politicians.

I'm not an historian, but I'd eliminate GQ's choice of the current crop being worse than in the past. I remember the Army-McCarthy hearings, and going to anti-HUAC rallies in New York. I've read about some of the politicians in the early part of this century and especially the antebellum crop in the 1870's and 80's. I don't see evidence that the present rascals are especially more corrupt or cynical than previously.

I've written in this blog several times about the state of political reporting in our country. While we have a fire hose of information to drink from, the quality is skewed and incomplete. A noteworthy difference between the current information era and what voters faced even twenty years ago is the increase in how much most of us both consume and create information. Cell phones, texting, tweets, Facebook, surfing the net, Googling - this blog. We are able to seek out information beyond what was available on TV news or in newspapers in the primordial ooze of information in 1992. The quality of the information, and how much it's subject to manipulation and censorship, is a different story, but there's no doubt that there is much more information about politicians and political issues available.

One fall morning in 1952, when I was walking to Spring Garden elementary school, the school crossing guard on High Street wouldn't let me across. He said no one wearing a Stevenson for President button could cross his street. I stood on the corner for a minute, then put the button in my pocket. I was 7 years old.

I've tried to do a better job of standing up for my political principles since then, but I've often lacked a candidate I could support. Like my puerile support of Adlai Stevenson, I'm naturally an outlier in politics. It's a family tradition, since my grandfather Sam voted for Eugene V. Debs each of the many times he ran. I don't think I've become softer or more compromising in my maturity, but I'm surprised at the number of politicians with whom I now agree.

A couple of weeks ago I attended a meeting focused on my Congresswoman, Chellie Pingree. I spent hours before the meeting studying her - her committees, bills, speeches, position statements. I found virtually nothing to quibble over. The main difference between me and my Congresswoman is that she's better informed and more articulate on the issues I care about, ranging from denying personhood to corporations to the arcana of the Farm Bill. In person, she was impressive, showing an encyclopedic command of issues and information. Her manner was crisp and direct - not the simpering fawning of blow-dried wonders we see on TV.

Then a dear friend invited me to her house to meet Chris Johnson, who's running for our state senate seat: filling a vacancy, the election is next week. On Super Bowl Sunday, the house filled and we ran out of chairs. Once again, I found Johnson to be almost perfect. He was modest and almost self-effacing, but he readily admitted his disagreement with people in the audience or not knowing an answer. A devotee of clean elections, he refused to allow a discussion of ways that people could support his campaign beyond what he receives from Maine's Clean Elections system. His knowledge of the issues was imposing, ranging from social change theory to the arcana of raising razor clams. He too is a passionate supporter of getting corporations out of politics.

Because turnout for a special election is small and this is Maine, Johnson needs about 2,000 people to vote for him to win. This is retail politics at its best.

There's no doubt that national politics has an important effect on our lives; I will vote for President Obama and send in my pittance after I've been asked 487 times. Having drunk far too much from the fire hose of trivia about the Republican primary fight, or actually, "fight," I think this choice needs no elucidation. But my real energy for politics is focused locally now. I don't know about the rest of you, but we here in Maine's mid-coast have actual choices in our politicians, and I feel thoroughly represented - in fact, honored.

So GQ, my conclusion is, don't let the media focus too much of your attention at the top of the ticket. If you're lucky you'll find someone, from school board to Congress, where you have enough agreement to support an engagement that will reward your effort with a better life.