All That Matters

Shooting ourselves in the foot is the election year game Democrats are best at. We have an opportunity to do good, to correct the excesses and repair the mistakes of the previous administration and what do we do? Shoot ourselves in the foot -- sabotage all our possibilities -- give the election away to the Republicans and spend the next cycle complaining about the guy in office and blaming each other for it. We're so afraid of getting things right.

Take the 2028 presidential election, for example. I know, that's future tense. But, waiting until 2027 is too late to think about these things. Trust me, Donald Trump has been thinking about them far longer. So let's start thinking about how we can help him. Huh? You read me right: help him. Because if we do what we typically do, that's exactly what we're going to end up doing.

The last time we did the atypical thing was 2008 when we elected Barack Obama. Things were close then, but he was the kind of candidate who survived the best of our foot-shooting efforts and showed us what leadership looks like. This cycle, things aren't so clear. 

The slate of potential candidates, so far as I see them right now, include four governors (J.B. Pritzker, Tim Walz, Gavin Newsom, Andy Beshear),  four congresspersons (Robert Garcia, Jamie Raskin, Joaquin Castro, Pete Aguilar) eight senators (Raphael Warnock, Mark Kelly, Chris Murphy, Ruben Gallego, John W. Hickenlooper, Cory Booker, Andy Kim, Elissa Slotkin), and one former cabinet member (Pete Buttigieg). Agree or not with the names, my point is, here are seventeen persons who could, conceivably, have to crowd onto a debate stage and letting that take place is how we blow the election. 

Instead of the candidates, aided by party wise persons, working out the three or four most likely to win and letting them duke it out, we open the door to everyone and end up looking like fools in the process. Not all the names I've mentioned have the same chance. Not all of them should get microphone time. 2028 isn't about Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It's about saving America from becoming the Western version of Putin's playground. We can sort out who gets to become the first ________ (whatever) later. Right now, we need character, selflessness, maturity, wisdom, and the capacity to serve rather than be served. And to achieve that we have to stop aiming at our feet and aim instead at getting the White House back.

And that's all that matters. 

Just Like Cancer

In my life, the dogs I've owned include two Rough Collies, four Black Labrador Retriever mixes, two purebred Yellow Labrador Retrievers, and a miniature Poodle mix I inherited from my late father. The first of the two collies was the companion of my childhood along with an aging Shetland pony, both of whom were precious beyond words. 

The Labradors began to appear after I graduated from seminary and have been a regular fixture ever since. A neighbor's huge Yellow Lab (“Ace”) became acquainted with my parents and adopted them while I was away at school. Coming home for the holidays, I was surprised to find him stretched out on their kitchen floor. My mother explained he liked to spend evenings with her and my father and then go home for bed when his owner called. It quickly became obvious to me he was the kind of dog I wanted: Big, affectionate, companionable, smart, courageous, and loyal.

Since then, some of my Labs have been smaller than Ace, others larger, either Black or Yellow. I have learned to avoid the Lab-Golden Retriever mix because of the inherited potential for cancer in some Golden breeding lines, and where those lines are unknown, the potential for early heartbreak is too much for me. I’ve gone through that once and once was enough for one lifetime. I want my dogs to live long and prosper. 

All that being said, I’ve learned some important things about life from my dogs. To begin with, just as the Founders of our Republic asserted women and men were created equal, so it is with dogs. Differences derive from evolution and genetics, not artificial distinctions invented by humans. Second, neither length nor color nor texture of fur have anything to do with temperament, intelligence, strength, endurance, capacity for loyalty and courage. Black Labs = Yellow Labs at all these points, and I take that to include Browns, Silvers, and Whites, purebreds and mixes when it comes to the dog beneath the fur. 

You can guess, I’m sure, where I'm going with this personal history. For reasons that defy logic, our time has become one in which people can be treated like dogs in an ASPCA commercial -- cold, starving, mistreated, and abandoned, depending on the whims of the powerful. What is worse, those at the top of the political food chain appear to have embraced skin color, economic status, religion, language, and national origin as valid reasons for arresting, imprisoning, and deporting pretty much anyone they like in the name of law and order. 

But none of this is about law and order. It's about national purity and in particular, one group’s idea of preserving national purity, and that spells oligarchy (rule by a few). The few decide who belongs and who doesn’t, who stays and who goes. But America is ruled by us all, excluding none, and concerns about preserving national purity inevitably morph into concerns about preserving racial purity. 

And just like cancer, I hate that.

Photo copyright by the author 2026.