Moving On From an Election

Mrs. Elecpencil and I just got back from Asheville, North Carolina. We went there to attend our daughter’s wedding. It was a small beautiful event. It took place at a cabin she rented on top of a mountain. We stayed at a stone cottage Airbnb in Clyde, North Carolina. Clyde is in Haywood County a mountainous region in western North Carolina. It is a conservative area where Trump won by almost 30 percentage points. I have to say that in driving around Haywood County I only saw only one Trump sign in a yard. It was at a beat-up trailer that also had a huge Trump flag. I’d say most of his supporters seem to have moved on. That is not the case here in NE Ohio and NW Pennsylvania. I drove over to my 90 year-old dad’s house in nearby Pennsylvania yesterday. In that 11 mile trip, I saw Trump signs or flags in a dozen yards. Eight of those were here in Ohio.

I find it odd that a conservative area like Haywood County North Carolina moved on from the election. Yet, a moderate area like Trumbull County Ohio, Mahoning County, Ohio and Mercer County Pennsylvania still has folks who haven’t got over Trump’s defeat for president.

Conservative Haywood County, North Carolina folks amazed me, as conservatives, moderates and liberals were coming together on an issue in their county. The cause was to fight a proposal to build a new jail. The sheriff and county commissioners were pushing for a jail which would cost  $16.5 in construction costs. Down Home North Carolina, a grassroots organization is leading the fight to stop the jail from being built. Down Home has become respected by local citizens because they have been helping the poor and working-class since 2017. 86% of the people incarcerated in Haywood County suffer from substance abuse. 48% have post-traumatic stress and a third have other mental disorders.

        Haywood County, like our area has suffered the loss of manufacturing jobs and rising substance use over the last few decades. Haywood has more emergency room visits for opioid overdoses than any county in North Carolina. Most people in Haywood County have friends or family with drug or mental health issues. That has helped Down Home to get people to take a new look at locking up drug addicts and the mentally ill. People in Haywood County, have come to realize incarceration is an expensive solution and does more harm than good for those incarcerated with drug and mental health issues.

Jails are crowded in Haywood County because the county doesn’t have enough mental health facilities. Between 2016 and 2020 mental health organizations in the western part of North Carolina have seen cuts of $52 million in budget funding. Down Home has presented a budget of $3.4 million for facilities and services to provide help for people with mental health and substance abuse issues. That is far less than the $16.5 million for a new jail.

        Down Home and opponents to the jail face a tough battle. Especially, since the sheriff and county commissioners are busy promoting a bond issue for the jail. I’m not sure how the fight will end but there are lessons to learn from fights like this. That being, that educating people on an issue, finding common ground and most importantly, saving taxpayers money can unite people of different political backgrounds.

It’s time to move on from the last presidential election. The things that affect most people are local issues. It’s time to concentrate and come together on those issues.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

Wishing This Was a Pandemic Epilogue

No chance of maxing out your fun meter

during this over year long pandemic.

Unless you want to be like a local covidiot,

I saw proudly posting an event on Facebook.

A video showed a nearby happening at a winery.

A local band played a really bad cover version

of Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk Going to Funk You Up.”

The dance floor was packed elbow to ahole.

None of the dancers were wearing a mask.

They were all in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s.

Which proves stupidity comes in all ages.

They partied like they don’t want the pandemic

to ever come to an end in their lifetime.

It’s like they want Covid to become a chronic

cause of death like heart disease or cancer.

Super spreader events like this

are going to hold us all hostage.

It’s toxic selfishness that will “F us all up.”

I see some anti-maskers who want others

to also not wear their masks.

If they think masks make no difference,

why do they care that others wear them?

It’s one thing to commit suicide,

it’s another thing to kill innocent bystanders.

These anti-vaxxers don’t want the gubbmint

atellin’ them what they ought to do.

They think they can just use a gun

to shoot the corona virus away.

All the vaccinated hypocritical hosts at FOX News,

are telling viewers to rebel and not get the vaccine.

The hosts tell lie after lie denying the virus.

When caught in lies they just resort to

more spin and double down lie sauce.

It helps ferment chaos, fear and anger in the base.

Doctors and scientists labored

to create a vaccine to fight Covid.

Covidiots would rather believe social media memes

claiming the virus is a hoax by the Deep State.

An anti-vaxxer that I know

told me that you just can’t trust

a vaccine that was made that quick.

This same guy has zero patience,

and always pays extra for overnight shipping.

Podcaster Joe Rogan says don’t get vaccinated.

I wouldn’t take medical advice from

the Fear Factor TV show host,

who had people eat cockroaches

and swim in fish guts and blood.

I understand that it’s hard to trust healthcare,

when it has a profit motivation.

The whole concept of a for-profit healthcare industry

should be abhorrent to any decent, caring human.

Ignorance is our most dangerous virus.

They need to come up with a vaccine for stupid.

Meanwhile, I’m waiting to re-enter the world.