Related: An excellent commentary from John Rash in Saturday Minnesota Star Tribune on “The facts on Afghanistan from a Minnesotan who was at the center of it all.”  Here is the article in pdf: John Rash 8 31 24 STrib Afghan.  Rash interviewed Minnesotan Ross Wilson, ambassador to Afghanistan in 2020-21 in the administrations of both Donald Trump and Joseph Biden.

Thoughts about Labor Day: Heather Cox Richardson

Minnesotans: You can see the names which will be on your 2024 ballot here.

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Some personal thoughts before the election.

“Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.  Minnesotans, early voting begins September 20.  The MN website is here.  65 days to Election Day, November 5.   My own view on the upcoming election, here. 

Below there are two maps.  WHY THE MAPS?  People everywhere are a very diverse lot.  The United States is a particularly diverse country among the nations of the world.  Today and in the future we are part of world society.  Each of us has our own network – people we know who in turn have connections with many others.   Society is all of us.  The maps are simply reminders of these physical connections.

(Here’s a pdf of the above: US Map.)  Map is courtesy of John M Wolfson, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

I am particularly interested in the viewpoints of young people, who are a major voting constituency, but who traditionally haven’t gotten as politically engaged, or vote as much as others.  Still, they are ultimately the ones who will inherit whatever government, however constituted, carries forward for, and will affect them far longer, than it will me.

In our country, children are given a pass until age 18; at 18 they are adults, with all the rights and responsibilities of adults of any age.

There is an obvious major generation gap, between myself and the youngsters. (My youngest grandchild turns 18 on November 10 – the only one not yet voting age.).

For most of us, being 18 is almost out of sight in our rear view mirror.  I’ve spent some time thinking about how life was when I turned 18, May 4, 1958.  (Kids born in 2006 will begin to turn 18 on Nov. 5.  9-11-01 babies will be 23….)

On this Labor Day, I invite you to consider, for yourself, three questions.

1.  What were the political realities and ground rules when you became 18?
2. What are the political realities and ground rules for today’s 18 year olds.
3. What is your assessment of what that reality will be 18 years from now, or even more daunting, how about 66 years from now (the number of years I’ve been out of high school).

Obviously, you will have different answers than I.  I’m just encouraging some independent thought as you go into conversations about the consequences of this, or any, election in our democracy.  I will give a very brief overview on my own view of question one below the map.

Map: Geordie Bosanko, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>

66 years ago, May 4, 1958,  I lived in a tiny town in the center of North Dakota (see the blue dot on the map).  Today, and for many years, I’ve lived in the twin cities metropolitan area of Minnesota 14 miles from Wisconsin.  (the second blue dot on the map).

In 1958, I had to register for the military draft.  I think this applied only to males, and it was no nonsense.  Voting age was 21.  I was not old enough to vote in the 1960 presidential election; and the first election where I was eligible to vote for President was 1964, when I was 24.

Things like communications methods and mobility generally were very primitive compared with today.  The Interstate Highway system had just been authorized, and the first stretch of 1-94 in North Dakota was the stretch between Valley City and Jamestown completed in the summer of 1958.

Sputnik, in the Fall of 1957, heightened the sense of national insecurity.  About a month before Sputnik, September, 1957, I saw Louis Armstrong and his band in person in performance in nearby Carrington ND.  Needless to say it was a unique experience. Nuclear was an element of schools in 1957-58, even the tiny ones.   Even conceptually, things like “national”, “international”, even “state”, were more vague than today.  We weren’t nearly as aware as we’re forced to be, now.

There was not even a thought about school shootings.  Drugs really hadn’t graduated from alcohol and cigarettes.  On and on.

Go back another 66 years to 1894, what would we see?  1828?  1766?  Ahead to 2090..?.

Your turn.  Our future is on the ballot two months from now.  2090 is not abstract.

POSTNOTE:  There have been three other posts this past week: State Fair, The Forgotten Tribe, and School.  Do check them out.

VOTE, and know well who you’re voting for, and why.  Whatever you do, you’re stuck with the results.

I plan to spend less time on “politics” at this space over the next two months.  Every conceivable issue has been hashed and rehashed for all of the candidates for national office.  Most of the national candidates have been well known public figures for years.  Most everything else is local.  I plan to continue to write about whatever comes to mind, as usual.  Check back once in awhile.

COMMENTS (more below):

from Lois: Hi Dick – Amen to your decision about discussion/facts/opinions of political items in the next two months in your blog.  I think we all have political fatigue.  Your reminder of on our first opportunity to vote brings to mind what Kennedy said in his Inaugural Address – “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”.   More than any other words, this has been the most meaningful for me over 60 years of anything relating to elections.  From city government to federal, we all need to participate in some way.    Thank you for all your interesting chats.   Lois

from Brian: