First, let me just say on this Groundhog Day that I chose the accompanying photo because the critter looked as if they might be inquiring, “What the hell is wrong with you people?”
I haven’t covered Groundhog Day in my Other Worldly novels or in this Luna Moth Woman blog, but I did once write a newspaper column about it back in February of 2016. You remember that year. There was a presidential campaign underway. It was about as vile and vitriolic as the one we just went through because one of the two candidates was the same sociopathic imbecile. But at the time, we didn’t know to be as alarmed as the sane among us are now.
I focused on Groundhog Day for my eleventh column that I wrote for nearly four years while living in rural, north-central Nevada. And I kept a scrapbook of all of my work, so when I looked up this particular one, it sent a prescient chill down my spine. Too much of it was downright uncanny in terms of what is now occurring, yet again, after another ill-fated presidential election.
It’s as if we’re all existing in that Bill Murray movie, except far worse. So, instead of pointing out pertinent points as to why this column from eight years ago hit such a nerve, I thought I’d share most of it herein and let is speak for itself. Here goes…
February 2 was officially Groundhog Day, which has been celebrated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania since 1887. A groundhog known as Punxsutawney Phil is unceremoniously yanked from his burrow on this day to prognosticate on the weather. If it is cloudy, spring is said to be coming early. If it is sunny, and Phil sees his shadow, we are in for six more weeks of winter weather.
Growing up on the East Coast, whether Phil saw his shadow was much debated and discussed. Yet while living in Minnesota for five years, the beleaguered groundhog was hardly mentioned. I asked a native Minnesotan why, and she said, “This is Minnesota. We already know we’re in for six more weeks of winter…and more.”
Here in northern Nevada, I suppose we could say the same—at least this year… And I suppose I can handle six more weeks of winter weather. But the truth is, it’s six more months and counting of political hogwash that I am loathe to endure along with the wind and the cold and the snow.
These days, I feel like the character is that classic 1993 fantasy movie Groundhog Day, where a reporter covering the Punxsutawney event finds himself in a time loop, repeating the day over and over. Why? Because over and over I hear presidential contenders repeating the same hogwash about what they will do if they become our president, and it leaves me downright cold.
Just because it is an election year as well as a leap year does not mean a candidate should take a giant leap away from reality, perpetuating a fantasy wherein magical powers will somehow befall them.
The reality that seems to slink into the shadows is our nation is a Republic, with a democratic form of government. This means we have a balance of powers among three branches of government, those being the executive, the judiciary, and the legislative. The president, and presidential powers, comprises the first branch, and only the first branch.
Hence, when a political candidate espouses what he or she will control or make other entities do while in office, it is mere fantasy. When a presidential contender claims they will unilaterally fix or change or bomb anything, they are either displaying outright ignorance or a lack of respect for the way the US is designed to operate per the Founding Fathers. Neither provides for a sunny outlook for our nation’s future.
Alternatively, if a politician states they know how to collaborate to get a job done, how to work with others to instigate change, it’s an indication that at least they are aware America is not a dictatorship. It may sound wishy-washy, and Congress may be a messy quagmire most of the time, but it is how things are accomplished, thanks to our Constitution.
We may be a young nation in comparison to others, but our Constitution is the oldest living document of its kind still in existence. I, for one, would like to keep it that way.
We have a balance of power to prevent tyrannical leaders, and we have separation of church and state to keep us from descending into ISIS or the Taliban. We are not run like a business or a religion because our nation is not a business or religion, plain and simple.
In Washington, DC, folks liken the legislative process to making sausage—something not easy to observe and stomach at the same time. Yet Congress, whether grinding up hog or not, is where and how laws are made, as opposed to by sole presidential edict.
This means that whoever is elected president has to stomach this process, swallow their ego, and wallow in the mud with other politicians to keep our nation moving forward and into the light instead of succumbing to the dark ages.
Our president does not unilaterally control the way the wind blows on any given issue any more than Punxsutawney Phil determines the coming weather on one winter morning in February.
And there you have it. I wish I could say something hopeful, but it looks like we’re in for years more of sheer hell wrought with inhumane atrocities and astounding ignorance because many Americans apparently learned nothing the first time around. Groundhog Day indeed. Except the movie wasn’t a horror flick.