October 16, 2008
Are you one of the undecideds in the middle this election year, a fence straddler? I hope not.
My Dad often said that the middle of a fence was not a good place to be. He had a saying about fence straddlers. "That fellow spends so much time straddling that fence I am surprised he doesn't have splinters by now."
Who are you fence straddlers any way? I want to meet you. I really want to meet you.
Where do you live? How do you think? An inquiring mind, mine, wants to know.
Can you really and truly not make up your mind yet about the election of 2008?
We are told almost daily by pundits that there is a vast number of undecideds who live somewhere in this country.We do not know exactly where they live, however.
We do not know who these uncommitted are, yet the political experts continue to tell us that these "Malcolms in the middle" will decide the election.
I just want to meet one. A living, breathing human being who truly does not know what he or she wants yet.
Do these folks answer a poll question one way today and another way tomorrow based on the latest stump speech? Do they have a moveable sign in their yard that is easily changed as one vacillates between candidates?
Do they decide whom to support this week based solely on the latest television ad happily singing, "Oh, if I only had a brain?"
Does a candidate's slip of the tongue, a wrong word choice, a gaffe, a wink, or a hand gesture actually change a mind?
I am not buying any of this. How about you? We are smarter than that, are we not?
Think about this.
Consider these numbers. Forty per cent of the country wants socialism and big government control, we are told; and forty per cent want a capitalistic free market society.
Twenty per cent are fuzzy and confused in the middle.
Thirty per cent of Americans call themselves liberal and 30 per cent call themselves conservative, ten per cent call themselves very liberal and are part of the "blame and hate America first" crowd, and ten per cent call themselves very conservative and are part of the ultra right wing "America can do no wrong" crowd. Twenty per cent are fuzzy and confused in the middle.
Can these numbers be true?
We have another saying in the Midwest about residing in the middle and straddling fences that deserves repeating here.
The story goes that a rancher went to the doc because he cut his hand trying to remove a "post turtle" from the middle of a fence. The doc asked him what a "post turtle" was, and the rancher explained.
"When you are driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that is a post turtle. You know he didn't get there by himself, he doesn't belong there, he can't get anything done while he's straddling the middle, and all you can do is help the poor dumb thing get down."
Write me if you still can't decide about this election and are straddling the fence; perhaps, I can help.
