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The Day After – Election Day

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A deep breath is what we all have to take. Days, months, years, of planning, scheming, hard work, volunteering, and campaigning come to an end with the selection of our next generation of leaders, who will decide what direction to take our country in the next two to four years. The millions of phone calls come to an end, the campaign signs and literature go in the garbage, and the pundits size up the next generation of elected officials for the next two or four years.

Voting

It came to an end rather abruptly by the filling in of a few scantron ballots by a few million voters. The machines at the end of the night, instantly tallied them up, and the results were announced. Some candidates became elected officials, while others will spend the next few months paying off their debts and pondering what wrong. Elections always have a definitive timetable, and they come to an end.

Power Line Right of Way

 We now move onto the month of November, the election but a memory. The leaves are gone from the trees, the days are colder, and evenings approach around 4:30 PM. The days are often crisp, but there is always a chance for a quick inch or snow when the weather is right. Thanksgiving and Christmas is just around the corner. But a few more weeks remain before winter fully sets in.

Vaccines are like voting

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One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is the anti-vax movement, which came to be as an reaction to the overly communitarian promotion of the COVID vaccine in the months after the pandemic. Getting vaccinated became a patriotic thing, it was something you did not because you didn’t want to get sick but because it would save the lives of the elderly and disabled.

It may very well be good to save the lives of the elderly and disabled. Many are inevitably very nice, good decent people. But at what cost? Getting vaccinated isn’t free in sense of your own time and motor fuel, it certainly hurts, and there is some risk — though probably the risk of dying in a car crash on way to the pharmacy far exceeds the risk of sickness after getting the jab.

I’ve never thought vaccines should be required or thought of as a way to build herd immunity or keep your community safe. But I do think they are worthwhile, because who wants to get to sick, stay home from work bed-ridden or spend costly time in the hospital? While I’m sure protecting the elderly and disabled is a noteworthy goal, keeping oneself healthy is a most worthy goal. There is no need to have a parade for those who get vaccinated, but you should consider getting your flu and COVID shots, and any other recommended vaccines like TDAP because who wants to get the whooping cough?

Vaccines are a lot like voting. Truth is the risk for most people getting the whooping cough, COVID or flu in any particular year is low, but vaccines are considered free, preventative maintenance for one’s health under most plans. Voting in most cases won’t change election outcomes, but sometimes it does. But it’s cheap, in most cases about the same cost as getting vaccinated, or these days with Early Mail Voting even slightly cheaper as you can do it from home.

I don’t like patriotism or community spirit as a motivator to take individual action. But I do think enlightened self-interest is important, and you should do things that are right for yourself and your family. Both voting and vaccination should be very inexpensive in time and cost, as their benefit for most in cases will be fairly minimal, but they do offset a large risk and can do often make a difference around the edges.

SVGZ Graphic: Nearest State / Province from This Part of the State

Still Like My Gadsen Flag

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Grin

I still like my Gadsen flag. The other day when I was out camping down at Aspah Run in Wellsboro Penna, I was asked about the meaning of the Gadsen flag. I struggled for a bit, but I basically explained it’s about getting the government off our are back. I have long said I’m sympathetic to ideas of the Tea Party – namely that government regulates too much in our lives – but doesn’t regulate big business enough. I am no means a Republican, but I do support libertarian causes, and the right of people to live a life free of government harassment.