More than the Liberty Bell cracked in Philly!
Two weeks past the 2022 General Election, it appears that Maricopa County in Arizona has given new meaning to the term “election year,” and apparently crime DOES pay in Harris County, or at the very least, an abundance of it still isn’t enough to get you fired. But in the I-thought-I’d-seen-it-all category is Pennsylvania and I’ve come to the conclusion that more than the Liberty Bell is cracked in Philly!
The state whose motto is Virtue, Liberty and Independence just elected a dead man to state office with 86% of the vote. Even the lamestream media, NBC Channel 10 Philadelphia couldn’t ignore it and said this:
“Some social media posts, however, are suggesting the election of a deceased candidate is indicative of shoddy elections or even fraud.” They even quoted this tweet, “You got dead people voting and dead people winning. You can’t make this up, America’s elections are a hot mess.”
But that’s not all folks. They elected the Harvard educated, cognitively impaired man-boy, John Fetterman, to the United States congress.
I say man-boy because according to the New York Post, Fetterman’s wealthy parents financially supported him and his family for the entire 13 years he was mayor of Braddock, a part-time job which paid $150 a year, until he was sworn in as lieutenant governor in 2019 at the age of 49.
The Post wrote, “In 2015 alone, his parents paid him a $54,000 salary. He lives with his wife, Gisele, and their three children, in a spacious Braddock loft that his sister purchased for $70,000 and then handed over to Fetterman for just $1.” And now American taxpayers get to support him and provide him with health care and a generous pension!
In the races cited above, the Democrat candidates were mostly successful in avoiding debates but debates, town halls, stump speeches across a county, district, state or nation are part of our history. This was the candidate’s opportunity to look you in the eye, tell you what they stood for and explain why they wanted your vote and your trust.
In 2018, I had the honor and pleasure of interviewing two gentleman from Grimes County (note I said gentleman – because they are!) who were elected to represent our district in Austin. Even though 46 years separated their campaigns, both Rep. Latham Boone (D) and Rep. Ben Leman (R) understood the power of personal contact.
In his interview, Boone said, “I went to auction barns and stood in the driveway with pamphlets about who I was and why I was running. The district was large and I think I put 10,000 miles on an old pickup I had. They want to know who I am. People want to know who they are voting for.”
In 1972, Boone fancied traveling with entertainment in the style of “Pappy” Lee O’Daniel and his “Hillbilly Boys,” but he didn’t have money to pay a band so he approached local blues songster Mance Lipscomb and asked him to play at a fundraiser at Navasota’s old Fireman’s Hall.
Boone said, “He didn’t ask for money and didn’t accept any money.”
Fast forward to 2018, Leman felt campaigning in rural districts hadn’t changed that much, and said, “In our district the most effective way to make a connection is face-to-face. There is no substitute for face-to-face. Everybody looks good on social media and the mailers but the individual making the observation can really make an informed decision - ‘Is this person somebody I want to support?’”
What a difference five years makes! Presidential, congressional and gubernatorial candidates hide out in their basements and run campaigns through social media which fits perfectly with the attention span and absence of critical thinking skills of many Gen Z, millennials and even Gen Xers.
I’m afraid we’re looking at more than a crack in our country. What we have here is a major fissure and it will take more than hot glue to fix this hot mess!
The column represents the thoughts and opinions of Connie Clements. Opinion columns are NOT the opinion of the Navasota Examiner.
Clements is a freelance reporter for the Navasota Examiner and an award-winning columnist.