There is Goodness

 

Adjudicate the Voters

There is Goodness

Dark Clouds Forming

By Stephen L. Wilmeth

             In these dark days of a world made up of equal parts of pandemic, hyperbole, and polarized America, there remains a place a once young boy can lose himself in a double shot of relevant events and memories of long ago.

            That, of course, centers around the old house on the west side of the ditch near the mouth of Bell Canyon. If the stories that could be told were told beside a crackling juniper and oak fire, the trip back would be worth the time. Certainly, part of the verse would be tragic and worldly, but the lessons and the fascination created by the experiences remain vivid and lasting.

            Hemingway, nor Ruark or Capstick for that matter, would have a corner on more lasting adventure, or, more implicitly, heritage.

            The smell of the river in the morning, the immensity of so many sunrises, the feel of the autumn air on a still day, and the relationship between that old man and this eventual old one are timeless chapters of a life of nostalgia and eventual closely held beliefs. He looked me square in the eyes when we drove away to start a life that sought the very things that place created but could not eventually offer.

            We both died a little bit at that very moment.

            Adjudicate the Voters

            There is goodness.

            I am reminded of one of the several national FFA conventions shared with our daughters. There was a concert, and the Kentucky Headhunters were the headliners. I had entered the hall to observe the proceedings and wound up talking to a security guard positioned next to the stage. I asked him how many guards were on duty that night and he replied, “Three.”

            The question of how that compared to a normal rock concert in the same venue and his remark was two dozen of his counterparts were sometimes too few to deal with that chaos.

            “We always enjoy working at this particular concert,” he continued. “These kids simply police themselves.”

            That certainly isn’t the way our country or our representative Republic works. If this week is a best-case example, there aren’t enough security guards anywhere to police the nonsense. The metrics are the first example. Not a single polling group predicted the general outcome. Twenty-seven too close to call House races resulted in 27 Republican wins. That alone sets the marker for any and all expert opinion.

            We have grown to trust nothing.

            We also know that the outcome of the recounts, under the prevailing conditions and controls, very likely will go against the president, but the marker for each mistake remains consistent. The found votes have increased the president’s net. Never is there a progressive marginal vote increase.

            There is reason to trust nothing.

            This specter of foreign vote counting, and the likelihood of high-tech manipulation is dangerous business. If it is true, the offending parties cannot simply be allowed to walk away.

            What should be a universal demand is to adjudicate the voters, but the same crew that insisted that 27 races were too close to call races is assuring us everything is clean. Everything is up and up.

            Indeed, we have grown to trust nothing … especially them, the protectorate scribes.

            Dark Clouds Forming

            It is not a stretch to believe the Founders and the Framers were more like us and marched to our way of life than they were to the existence of the secular progressives that oppose us in every way, despise the Constitution, and actively rewrite history. The originalists were much closer to the land and primary needs. They, like us, were also overseen by agents who were more attuned to mandates of the crown than to the lives of the citizenry. We have a lot in common.

            History should remind us some of those people, brave men and women, stood up and put their lives and their fortunes at full risk. Some of their verse, too, was tragic and worldly, but the lessons and the fascination created by those experiences remains vivid and lasting.

            The permanence was so profound it was passed along to us in the hope of an existence where the individual rather than the crown remains the national cornerstone. Our country is worth saving. The killing of babies must be halted. Their lives must be protected. Our borders must be sovereign. Decisions affecting local matters must be controlled by local voices and national debt must be given highest priority rather than lip service.

            But, those things are merely the belabored standards.

            Too many words have already been used to describe and elevate them into a realm of reason that can be agreed upon and accepted. The desired outcome of that approach won’t happen. The opposing agenda is so ensconced in premeditated and structured intention no words will counter the divide they seek to manage and expand.

            Quite frankly, I am tired of being treated like an enemy of my own country.

            I know what I do daily, and it not only takes a will to proceed it takes courage to face the gauntlet of obstacles created by the political massif that has been created. How President Trump must feel in similar fashion cannot be comprehended. To survive that, to weather that storm, and to remain resolute in objective intent and reasonable health is more than amazing.

            It is Divine.

            What happens next will be interesting and consequential. None of us are betting on the outcome, but there will be an outcome. Like so many historical parallels our inner hope will be that we can protect our existence and that includes our families and the heritage that we have honestly strived to create.

            If our last look at each other takes place, let’s pray it is from the memory of highest respect.

 

            Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “If we’re left exposed on this border, there will be profound finality.”