Many of you may know me as the producer and host of SEP Daytime, a blog and vidcast site found online in a browser near you. Or perhaps you've been a listener and/or caller to some of the talk radio stations where I host, among then, Delaware 105.9 FM News Talk Radio.
But, today, I'm here to talk to you about a subject that touches all our lives, an affliction that threatens our well being as citizens, even as a nation itself, a physiological challenge that blocks our path to a brighter tomorrow for ourselves, our kids and our kids' kids, whether we are black, Caucasian, Latino, Native American or simply identify as any one or any combination of those; whether we are heterosexual, homosexual, bi-sexual, metro sexual, overtly sexual or Miley Cyrus; whether we are L or G or B or T or former Olympic decathlon gold medal winners turned reality show transgenders who feel both out of place and, at the same time, perfectly at home in every and all public rest rooms.
I'm talking about muscle memory.
Once again, as history, tradition and Constitutional edict dictate, we find ourselves in the midst of yet another historic, traditional and Constitutionally edict-ed election year, the 45th time, in fact, in our national history that America has been faced with and/or offered, depending on your glass half empty, glass half full view of life, a choice of candidates campaigning, cajoling, crusading and/or caterwauling their way back and forth across the lower 49 in search of enthusiasm for, but, more importantly, endorsement of, their particular candidacy.
By the way, the purists and/or nitpickers amongst us are probably busy at work picking the nit that this particular Presidential power play is, actually, the 44th and not the 45th given that the current President is actually the 43rd man to inhabit the office. The confusion arises because Grover Cleveland was actually elected twice, at separate times, making him both the 22nd AND the 24th President but in terms of actual elections held, we're talking 45 as of this year and not 44.
That particular clarification, of course, matters only to scholars, historians and those guys you look at once and assume they're still living in their Mom's basements.
As far as "traditional" goes, meanwhile, the decision process of 2016 is, to any reasonable observer, as far from traditional as far from traditional can get.
At this point in the narrative, our three leading contenders are, in no particular order of preference and/or endorsement:
1. A much revered while much reviled United States Senator who has captured the hearts and spirits of millions of Americans with his electric, albeit eccentric, quest to give hope to the hopeless, help to the helpless and defeat to...the defeat-less...all the while burdened by the perception that all the money and benefits and extra goodies that he wants to give to THEM will come from YOU.
2. A much revered while much reviled mega-millionaire (he says mega-billionaire), multi-married, meglomaniacal (he says he loves everybody, especially the Mexicans) reality show starring, real estate wheeler dealer who has never been elected to anything in his life but has blustered, bloviated, battered and abused his way to within one remaining election of becoming the first mega-millionaire, multi-married megalomaniac to ever become President of the United States.
3. And...a much revered while much reviled former senator, former Secretary of State, former First Lady and, unless there's a stunningly unexpected Jenner like bombshell yet to be detonated, the first woman to get this close to actually being elected President of the United States (assuming, of course, that she neither loses her quest for the nomination to the aforementioned electric eccentric nor suddenly finds her path blocked by one of those pesky indictments for a Federal crime).
Clearly, as "traditional" goes, this crazy cluster of finalists, as does poorly placed explosives in a beat up old lawn mower being used as a target, blows the doors off.
Or, of course, leg as the case may be.
Comedic cast of characters and the angry, frustrated, venomous, vitriolic, oh, hell, let's just call it what it is, okay, WWE Smackdown of a campaign aside, there's something so deeply ingrained in the process that it will, despite any efforts by anyone in any way, shape or form, prevent us from ever truly settling our respective differences, let alone bring us together on that poetic path to patriotic productivity and an almost Kumbayah-like atmosphere of truly joining together as "we, the people".
Again, that insidious instigator of inflammatory indictments of one another.
Muscle memory.
Because, you see, this particularly historic, while egregiously nontraditional, quest for the keys to that cool house of white there in downtown D.C. has, at the very least, shined a very bright light on what our once upon a time, not quite, but actually, uh, yeah, President, Al Gore refers to as "an inconvenient truth" when it comes to the mindset of the respective American voter.
Hearts and spirits are available for the capture.
But changing somebody's mind?
As Donald's very good, good friends might put it....
"No way, Jose".
Lot of talk this time around about how divided we are as a nation.
No credible argument there.
And...duhh.
But, while that's obvious and unfortunate, it's also understandable.
We've always been divided.
The myth of "we, the people" is, for lack of a more accurate word, myth.
There have always been conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans, Whigs and Federalists, pro-choicers and pro-lifers, Christians and atheists, extremists and moderates, wisdom seekers and wack job asshats, disscussionists and demagogues, CNNers and FOX News-ers, yins and yangs, uppers and downers...
...heavy on the onions....hold the onions.
We are what we are and...cue The Turtles, words and music by P.F. Sloan.
"I am what I am / and that's all I ever can be..."
Even allowing for the inevitable "exceptions to the rule" in the form of those who, after effort or epiphany, find themselves at a change of heart and/or mind, we are, by habit and nature, in the larger number, the product of years of conditioning. Conditioning provided , or inflicted upon us (again, half full/half empty) by upbringing, elementary and/or advanced education, family influence/pressure, peer influence/pressure, cultural currents and a host of other factors, visible and invisible, that define us, our values and our positions on the issues which require a position.
And when it comes to political perspective, there's something about the unique and impossible to break down recipe of our own individual concoctions that makes changing flavors, or horses, mid-stream or elsewhere, an, at best, difficult and challenging task, even when we feel motivated to try and seek a change for ourselves.
Which we very often, in fact, more often than not, do not.
The illusion that elections, especially Presidential elections, are a panacea for our national ills, cracks and/or crevices is simply, and inevitably, just that.
An illusion.
And all the "momentum" that this candidate or that candidate can inspire, incite, create and/or conjure up might give the big bad boulder of societal progress a little nudgy here and there, from time to time, but it is not now, nor will it ever be, a match for that combination/affliction ingrained in every one of us.
Muscle memory.
Blair O'Neal is a golfer and model who co-hosts "Golf Channel Academy" on The Golf Channel. Not long ago, a friend and fellow golfer of mine were talking about the Channel and the various tips, useful and otherwise, offered. I remarked that, me being me, I found one particular quirk of O'Neal's presentations to be both interesting and amusing.
Frequently, on the "Academy" show, the other co-host, Martin Hall, uses "this is how you don't do it" examples by way of highlighting how best to learn the correct way of making various golf shots. O'Neal assists him by being the "player" literally illustrating the example.
O'Neal is clearly an accomplished golfer with obvious years of training and practice on her resume. Even a non-golfer can recognize that her swing is specifically defined and, again, obviously, the end product of those years of training and practice.
Put simply, her golf swing is deeply grooved.
The interesting, amusing and, telling, quirk comes into play, pun unintended, but inevitable, when O'Neal sets up under Hall's direction to intentionally "mis-swing" for the purpose of demonstration.
Clearly, O'Neal is ready and willing to "mis-fire" and pays close attention to every piece of the instruction Hall gives her to "incorrectly" demonstrate.
From a slightly different stance, to swinging back too much up or out, to down-swinging too much out and/or around and following through either poorly or not at all, the "dry run" of the illustration is diligently "rehearsed" each time by O'Neal.
And then, Hall steps back and lets the audience watch O'Neal "mis-swing" for real in its entirety.
And every time, O"Neal sets up as instructed, addresses the ball, pauses for a moment....
...and, then, swings back, down and through in exactly the same deeply grooved fashion that she has honed through years of training and practice.
Every. Single. Time.
Muscle memory.
When applied to a political perspective, it doesn't take a lot of introspection, or insight, to see what an obstacle muscle memory is to any hope of smoother sailing on the good ship, U.S.S U.S of A.
Progress, in any form, results from a combination of core values and the ability, not to mention wisdom, to be flexible and open minded, navigating with the intent to arrive safely and successfully.
Not petty, stubborn, angry standing of ground for no other purpose than petty, stubborn angry standing of ground.
For those football enthusiasts in the crowd here, it's about having a good, solid, trustworthy playbook but also the smarts to recognize the need to call an audible, along with the smarts and talent to actually call one and pull it off.
The process of choosing the next President, sadly, much like the process of governing in this country, has mutated from a spirited, even passionate "duel" between adversaries with an ultimate goal of accomplishing a higher purpose into a passionate, even hostile "battle" between opposing sides with no other apparent goal than simply to both assert self righteousness and/or thoroughly and, ideally, brutally eliminate the opposition.
What's been missing from this campaign and, tragically, as opposed to historically, makes it unique is any obvious indication that positive, productive, inspiring change is actually a considered outcome.
Let alone a possible one.
Because what's egregiously present in this campaign is another part of that "inconvenient truth" we talked about earlier.
No matter what effort, sincere or devious, is made to recruit the masses into a compromising spirit of finding a way to somehow make the system viable and livable for everyone, that effort is doomed by that intractable, even unassailable, tendency that we all have to hold fast, hard and true to whatever we want, the way we want it, when we want it.
A tendency that we once seemed to be able to manage, if not completely control.
These days?
We can listen to every word spoken to us by someone with an opposing point of view and even if we have every good intention of giving that point of view a fair shake, the end result will be the same.
We'll swing the way we were taught to swing.
The way we've swung after years of conditioning, training and practice.
In politics, like in golf, it's called muscle memory.
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