I waited a bit to comment on the outcome of the election just to see if in fact the world would end if President Donald Trump was reelected.
Nope. At least not unless you were one of those so sensitive you needed a safe space, cookies and hot chocolate, or my favorite (from Harvard), Legos.
For those poor folks, the world apparently did meet its demise.
But apparently about 75 million Americans concluded they were tired of being called stupid, Nazis, racists and all the rest by hysterical media and Hollywood elites and voted for President Trump anyway.
The following Sunday, as has happened many Sundays before and I suspect many more to come, my wife and I even ventured out after church to a restaurant. We saw a long-time Democrat acquaintance and exchanged our usual pleasantries.
I know this sounds crazy, but we were able to be pleasant and civil despite our differences. It sounds weird, I know, but that’s what normal people do.
So, as the holidays approach, unlike the unhinged liberal knotheads on TV, we plan on spending time with family and friends — even some who think differently than I do. We have no plans to punish them and expect that none will punish me for my voting habits.
If age has taught me anything, it is that time is too short to waste on foolishness like that.
Plus, I don’t want to gloat.
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Locally, though, I wasn’t really surprised by any of the results. The only initiative that went my way was the option to use natural gas and the Lewis County 911 tax. Even though I don’t use natural gas now, the option seems reasonable. But, as usual, voters in Washington will be challenged in court by environmentalists to get the court to kill it. Just like school choice, they can’t stand voters deciding because, after all, they know what’s best for us.
The county’s budget woes are still bad, and it’s likely the solutions will be hard, too. Like most budgets, the bulk of it is wrapped up in wages and benefits, so meaningful cuts will result in the loss of jobs or services.
At the federal level, they just print money and “kick the can down the road” for someone else to deal with. But counties can’t print money, so they have to balance budgets. The reality is we have kicked the can for years, too, using reserves to make up the difference and avoid the painful cuts they face today.
But that can only go so far. Add to that the crazy inflation we have all experienced in the last four years, and that just makes the problem worse.
The clock for a required budget is ticking and, while I can’t recall the exact date, the budget is required to be passed soon. Hiring freezes and attrition through retirements or employees leaving won’t likely make up the difference, so painful decisions will have to be made. It’s likely even going to include essential services.
In just a couple months, our state Legislature will meet and, if I’m not mistaken, they too will face a budget shortage, due in part in my estimation to an ever increasing and unsustainable appetite to spend money.
I predict there will also be a crime of the session (seems like there always is) or other matters that will affect counties negatively and add to our local problems.
But we’ve seen this before and survived. So, we can choose to be hopeful and work through it, or shrink in fear, which does nothing.
We can learn from history (although I doubt kids are being taught real history anymore) and think like FDR when he said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He’s right. Fear sells. Fear motivates. But unreasonable fear is destructive.
So while I’m not a psychiatrist and didn’t play one on TV, I choose hope over fear. And Legos, of course.
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.
