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After all the speeches are given, and all the promises conveyed, if you vote in the presidential election on Tuesday, November 4, and I hope that you do, you will be alone in the voting booth to help determine the course that our country will take in the next four years.

This year’s slate has a curious balance. Regarding one presidential candidate, there are charges of inexperience and liberal thinking, and for the other contender for the office, there seem to be thoughts and worries about longevity, and his potential successor. Both men are great leaders, and both men have given of themselves to the country. Service and patriotism and level of commitment are non-issues for either one of them. Those qualities can be assumed.

Like many other Americans, I have concerns about the emphasis on the Economy by either of them. As far as I know, neither man has a college degree in Economics. Yet, in the last days, this has become the major focal point of speeches.

As the candidates have flipped from issue to issue, in a soup du jour kind of a way, the election has seemed disjointed at times, with wild promises to spend more money than should be spent, coupled with an added commitment to cut taxes. There has not been any emphasis on just how we got into this pickle in the first place.

Obama seems to have a Robin Hood kind of plan. In taking more in taxes from the very rich, he can level the playing field a little more. That will allow a tax break for the middle class citizens who have made the rich, “rich,” in the first place.

In a town hall meeting in Peterborough, New Hampshire tonight, McCain stated that his priority was to finish the wall between Mexico and the United States and that “some” of the people (in Mexico) are “good people.” He offered to “incentivize” businesses who provide “green technology” to private homes and businesses, to fix all the government buildings, so that they are in line with “green” thinking, and to grant more money to students who are seeking higher education.

Campaign promises always seem to be forgotten, once anyone attains the office they seek. I wonder if anyone has ever done a study of broken campaign promises.

On the face of it, it seems that we are in a state of “Promise her anything, but give her Arpege.”

This weekend, many people in other states have tried to vote in pre-elections. Some have stood for hours, until they could stand in line no more, without food, drink, and a place to sit down. If you are in your 80s, you’d have a hard time holding out, too. Some elderly people just gave up after waiting more than two hours and being told that the wait would require at least three more hours.

On Tuesday, I doubt that the lines in New Hampshire will be too long. However, I plan to go prepared with everything I need to wait in line, if that means a thermos of coffee, folding chairs, a winter coat and scarf, an umbrella, snacks, and a good book. We are determined people, in New Hampshire. I, for one, do not want “four more years … ” It is, America, indeed, “time for a change.”

Anyone out there making any political quilts?

There you have it, and that is how it looks from this corner of cyberspace. Patricia Cummings, reporting from Concord, New Hampshire, home state of the first primary election in the nation.

After November 4, 2008, I hope that I do not have to hear “approved messages” on the television. It has become a common practice in the U.S. for politicians to say that they approve of the TV run ads that represent their views while attacking their opponents, no matter how much the ad engages in bold-faced lies, or how downright rude or nasty their purported message is. These ads are known as “negative ads.” They certainly do nothing to enhance the status of the contender.

Every political year brings out the “fringe” population. Sometimes, one wonders if certain people are planted in the audience, or if they always act a little touched in the head. Unfortunately, there are the deceivers who will do or say anything to get more votes for their candidates.

One monumental example of that is the report of recent signs that say that the voting system has been changed and now, Democrats should report to vote on Nov. 5. That is ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE! Everyone who is eligible to vote can do so on November 4, if not before, by pre-arrangement. If you go to the polls on December 5, no one will be there!

A startling statistic I learned yesterday is that in the last election or perhaps, the last two elections, 20 million women who could have voted did not. One of those elections was one by little more than 500 votes. One can’t help to think how the last eight years could have been different. I think of lost lives and lost money.

So, ladies, especially, you can readily see that YOUR vote counts!!! Please vote. Don’t be apathetic and leave this coming election to the winds of fate. Our foremothers fought long and hard to afford their descendants and themselves, what they were denied, a say in this democracy, and a voice as to who will lead us.

As far as the negative ads go, they reflect badly on whomever thinks them up. They make politics look like some kind of silly game where the one with the most outrageous remarks, wins.

I am Patricia Cummings, and I do not approve negative ads.

“Amen, and Amen!” Vote on Nov. 4!

While Vermonters can claim to have an extra season, lovingly referred to as “Mud” Season, all of us can relate to the media inundation of mud that occurs during political season. For months now, we have had phone calls asking for whom we will vote. I feel that I’ve been talking to air and that perhaps no one writes down my answers, because whomever calls asks the same question, again and again. I suppose there are various agencies of pollsters who call and that probably accounts for the situation.

In addition, we have had flyers in our mailbox and jammed into our door handles. I am waiting for even one of them to truthfully tell me what the candidate will do to improve the quality of my life, once he or she has more time on their hands, time left free due to not having to think up more slurs for the opposition.

Then, we have the talking heads on the radio and television, with their endless speculations as to how “close” the race is, and what the outcome might be. One station, in particular, is clearly for one presidential candidate, and constantly predicts his ultimate supremacy, in spite of the actual odds of a win.

The political conventions were fun to watch, particularly the Democratic one. The crowd was enervated, and there were some great speakers. A lot has happened in this country since then, not much of it pretty. I don’t know the genius who woke up one day to discover and to pronounce that we, as a country, and as individuals, are in real financial difficulty. The writing has been on the wall for a long time. A lot of the problem, a pervasive one indeed, has to do with people not taking personal responsibility for the way they conduct their own home finances such as the misuse of credit cards and getting overextended.

Just in a few short months, we have gone from a more hopeful nation to one that relies on “Joe, the Plummer” to win a campaign.

Politics, at their best, help to move the country forward so that we can feel free from external threats, and safe from maltreatment of those who would try to steal occupations by layoffs, outsourcing, etc. It’s time that we looked out for ourselves as a nation.

Somehow the Mud Season (Vermont’s fifth season) and the Mudslinging of the Political Season just don’t equate. The first is fairly benign, by comparison. I, for one, will be so glad when this political season is over. Ah, just the thought of it: no more phone calls, no more flyers, no more speeches, no more speculative television pundits, … it will seem like a great relief.

Patricia Cummings

Once in a while, I pull out an old story that has to do with a visit to a neighbor by my father, years ago. The political season was raging. Dad served as Clerk of the Board of Selectmen, and Treasurer of the Bicentennial, and was on the School Planning Committee to study the concept of area schools. I don’t know how he happened to be at the neighbor’s house that day, only that it was for business, related to town affairs.

He stepped into the house and heard the woman who lived there begin to call, “Man Who,” “Man Who.” She was actually calling her cat. When questioned, she said that the name was inspired by politics. After hearing about, “The man who” did this or that, the possible cat name had come into her mind.

Well, the political season this year is certainly a hopeful one as each of us checks with friends and family and we urge each other to vote for our favorite presidential pick. The phone has wrung incessantly, manned by pollsters. Sometimes, I answer in Spanish or ask what kind of pizza they would like to order; sometimes I ask how they found me, since I’m in the Witness Protection Program (just kidding, folks); and sometimes I actually strike up a conversation, as I did today.

The man who called seemed very nice. He asked if I’d like to work on the campaign. No, I can’t find time right now, but listen to how the called ended. I said, “Well, God bless you in your work.” He replied, “Well, God bless you and your vote.” Then, I emphatically exclaimed, “And … God Bless America!” We both hung up feeling a connection, I think, and perhaps a little more hope for the future. This total stranger was the “man who” made my day!

It feels so good to say it, I think I’ll say it again, God bless you and God bless America!

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications, http://www.quiltersmuse.com

This election year seems more important than ever and the comedians are not missing a chance to celebrate the more outrageous moments like the “crazy lady,” whose opinion at the mike was quickly terminated. Nameless, she will forever be known as just the “crazy lady.” She said that she could not vote for Obama because he was an “Arab.” We all wondered if the word was a euphemism for another word she was thinking. No matter, this was an opportunity for candidate McCain to do the honorable and decent thing: to uphold the personal qualities of his opponent.

There have been few light moments. One has been the hyped up scenario about “Joe, the Plummer,” the totally misunderstood encounter. I totally cracked up when I saw the sign, “Jose, El Plomero,” at a rally on television, proving this story has truly reached Latino voters, as well. (That would be Jose with an accent mark on the final e, which this computer program cannot make).

Saturday Night Live, a television show that airs for 1 1/2 hours on late night TV, promised to be interesting. Sarah Palin was scheduled to be on. She has been heretofore represented on the show by her look-alike, Tina Fey. Finding nothing in the least bit “funny” in the first half hour, I went to bed. Jim stayed up, burning the midnight oil, and hoping to find a bit of humor. All he gained was feeling more tired.

In these last days, counting down toward the final vote, more and more campaign ads are mean spirited and deceitful. For our New Hampshire Senatorial race, two candidates are accused of doing the same thing – siding with the current president. Why run the ads? They cancel out each other. I would rather hear about the good things that politicians have tried to do but that gets lost in the political wrangling.

I’ll be happy when we can get back to business as usual, so to speak, to a time when politicians can shake hands and really mean it, and a time when we can all see our way to doing what is best for the country and not just talk about plans that are doomed to fail.

What I’ve learned is that politicians are not “sacred cows.” We can and do poke fun at them, just as they poke fun at themselves and each other. Without humor, it would be a dreary and God-forsaken world. The race is on. Let’s continue it with grace and goodwill, and may the best candidates win and may their ensuing actions be tempered with insightful humor.

Patricia Cummings