I used to really get into politics. Remember I am old but even before I was able to vote I liked politics and always wanted to get involved. I remember being a huge Bobby Kennedy fan at 12 years old. He was the champion of civil rights and poverty, homelessness. He was going to make a difference. He would change the world. He once said “ That some men see things as they are and say why. I see things that aren’t and say, why not.” Wow…… Then he was gone.

Richard Nixon was the greatest President of my lifetime. My lottery number was 003 the year of my 18th birthday. The draft was staring me in the face and it looked like I had a scholarship awaiting me from the US Army at Saigon State University in South Vietnam. January 27, 1973 Richard Milhouse Nixon ended the draft. Thank you President Nixon, he probably saved my life. Then later on he was leaving on the White House lawn in Marine One waving to us and flashing us the victory sign and he too was gone.

I was also very naive. I actually believed that if we just elected the right people, supported the right causes, embraced the right movements, voted in the right ways, that we could then enact the right laws, that would effect the right changes, and bring about the happiness and prosperity we all so desperately want. I really believed that. Young and ignorant. I even go back and look at some of my Facebook post from 10 or so years ago and wonder what the hell was I thinking.

The first time John McCain ran for President against George W, I worked on McCain’s campaign in SC. I met him a couple of times and when he came to Easley my handsome face was splashed all over NBC News with Tom Brokaw. John McCain was shaking my hand while he signed his biography Faith Of My Fathers and then handing it to me. Today it is still a honor. John McCain was an American hero.

There I was again actually believing that if we just elected the right people, supported the right causes, embraced the right movements, voted in the right ways, that we could then enact the right laws, that would effect the right changes, and bring about the happiness and prosperity we all so desperately want. McCain then won the nomination four years later and I was left wondering what had happened to this man that I had supported four years ago. Was this the same person?

If I could say one thing now about my political beliefs now I would say learn from my stupidity. Where was the hope Barack told us about? No matter what Trump says there is no greatness in name calling like a two year old. Where is this joy that Kamala Harris speaks about.

Learn from my stupidity. Sadly I think many of my fellow Americans believe in the wrong faith. Peter Heck is a writer and he said and I agree “I’m afraid way too many of my fellow countrymen are believers in the wrong faith, just like I was. Promoting a counterfeit joy, a cheap imitation of something so powerfully transformative it’s shocking we humans settle so easily for impotent, worldly forgeries. We dedicate our energies and attitudes, base our friendships and relationships, direct our finances and investments towards fighting this futile battle for fleeting earthly power and dominion. And what’s amazing is that we do so knowing it won’t last.

Every two or four years, we are told that the fate of our society hinges on the outcome of our national popularity contest. I have said this very thing the last six elections. I will vote in November covering my nose in the voting booth as I cast my ballot but unlike the last elections I will not put my faith in any of these clowns and will remember to put my faith in the one that really matters.