Some Thoughts on Election Eve - by Gene A. Hoots

Soon we will know the result of what has been billed as “the most important election in our lifetime.”  I suspect that when you look back years from now it will be hard for you to believe that is so.  Poles, computer programs, and pundits are forecasting everything from an Obama landslide to a Romney landslide with many saying it is too close to call either way.  Like stock market forecasts, somebody is going to be right and will be heralded as a genius, probably just by being lucky.  I will forecast one thing – the sun will rise on November 7 just as it has every day for a long time and we will get on with our business and the nation’s business.

In 1980 just before the Carter Reagan election, I had the pleasure of sitting next to the great historian Will Durant at a dinner in Los Angeles.  He was asked who he thought would win that election.  He viewed the world from about 75 years of studying and writing history.  His answer was, “It isn’t going to make any difference.  The mood of the country has shifted to conservative and either President will ultimately bend to the will of the people.”  This is nearly always the case, although it takes time.  This election presents a real problem for the president because the “people” seem to be so polarized that we don’t know where we want to go.

This situation reminds me of an incident with my Uncle Ken.  He was on the street in Mocksville one day when a stranger stopped and asked if he could recommend a restaurant in town.  Ken said, “We have C’s Café at one end of town and the Barbecue Pit at the other end.  It won’t matter which one you go to, you’ll always wish you had gone to the other one.”

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