Lest it be lost, below, I urge you to set aside the time to read this long commentary from a blogger I’ve never heard of: Terri Kanefield (note the April 6 post) This is long.  Take the time, agree, disagree, but do take the time….  Thanks to Molly for letting me know about it.

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Yesterday I caught an on-air conversation between Nicole Wallace and John Bolton. Their names may well be familiar: Nicole is a fixture on MSNBC, Bolton is a prominent Republican.  In an earlier life, Nicole worked for Jeb Bush in Florida, then his brother, George W. Bush at the White House, then for John McCain, as Republican candidate for President in 2008.  She was a California Republican.  Bolton is best known as UN Ambassador for George Bush in 2005-06; later National Security Advisor for the President of the United States 2018-19.  He has a recent book “The Room Where It Happened” about life in the White House.

What I found interesting was not unexpected.  Would Bolton vote for Biden in November?  There was the usual waffling, with the also usual ‘nutgraf’ that Biden’s foreign policy was worse than bad.

So goes the drill with political conversation in the United States in 2024.  Who, What is to be believed?  You won’t get it from highly placed sources who know that their every word of theirs will be interpreted, their every sentence and paragraph sliced and diced.

In the end, each of us as citizens has to decide, not only who to select for President, but every other elective office, and it best be an informed decision, including whether to vote at all.  Every voter action or inaction is consequential.

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Terri Kane’s commentary highlights a dilemma most any of us have these days.  We have so many sources of information, so many choices, that it becomes difficult to even have a civil conversation – what I read you’ve never heard of; what you saw on television I didn’t watch – on and on.

My friend who sent me the link to the commentary admits she rarely watches the tube.

As for me, I do, but I try to at least get a sense of other perspectives.

Kanefield’s post reminded me of something I wrote in 1996, after the Presidential election that year.  My commentary is here: Politics 1996.  This is five pages, and a good piece of it takes a look back at a vignette in 1960 Presidential election time.  At least take a look.

The purpose of this post is not to advocate for anyone or anything; rather to encourage your own personal reflection in the interim between now and November 5.