The circus continues with wild abandon just up the road from Refuge Farm. Peace may be breaking out in the Middle East as the UAE makes nice with Israel. The echoes of all of the global events bounce off the unremitting and insistent downpour of rain. It is pretty neat. Earlier in the week, former Vice President Biden announced the selection of a Vice Presidential candidate, a female person of color. She has a marvelous resume of accomplishment that is all over the spectrum. Born to a Caucasian mother from India and a father from an old Jamaican family, she melds the traditions of both traditions into something entirely new. Should be an exciting addition to our perfect storm of identity politics, historical revision and grand fun.

Even the Chinese want to play. The authorities said 20,000 fake drivers licenses were discovered inbound from Hong Kong. The more the merrier!

I took a brief plunge into the new VP candidate’s resume, which includes service as the Attorney General of one of our most influential states and time at the cutting edge of the United States SenateThere are There are some quirks, of course, just like everyone has these days. Her father’s distinguished academic career is augmented by a family history of owning other humans. She grew up in Canada, a nice place, and returned to the U.S. to attend Howard University right here in the middle of The Swamp.

Having run unsuccessfully for the candidacy for the Presidency in this cycle, my favorite tabloid, the New York Times, announced the party line to keep us all moving forward in the confusion of the storm. Our new Vice Presidential candidate is a Pragmatic Moderate in orientation, and we are supposed to remember that and faithfully parrot it. Thy told us they would be watching.

I imagine that is as pragmatic as the Times gets these days, and everything is fine now. The Times told us not to mention any discontinuities, and I will obediently follow the party line, well reflected across our unbiased media.

Here at the Daily Socotra we have a commitment to follow whatever the daily rhetoric demands. Normally, the Vice Presidential pick is of only passing interest, but this nomination carries the very real prospect that the current Presidential candidate may not make it to Inauguration Day, based on some moderate health issues, and therefore this nomination may actually be for the next Chief Executive. This is entertaining, and is almost as exciting as any political event since the Presidential election of 1876.

Since we have joyfully adopted the policy of eradicating our past, this may be new news. Back then, President U.S. Grant declined a chance to go for a third term in the White House, even though he was sober. Or maybe because of it. Congressman James G. Blain emerged as the front-runner for the Republican nomination, but couldn’t carry the Convention. The Party settled on Governor Hayes of Ohio as a compromise candidate, while the Democrats nominated Governor Tilden of New York as a constructive alternative.

There were plenty of thrills and chills in the election, but in the end their version of the perfect political storm permitted Hayes to achieve a one-vote majority in the Electoral College, which was permitted to stand in exchange for the end of Reconstruction, and the eventual establishment of the Jim Crow legal system in the now-restored South.

You might recall the century of turmoil that followed, but if you don’t, it is still worth a scan of those times to measure against the madness of our own. Still, we must live our post-historical lives in the times we are given and do the best we can with the amazing characters who promise to lead us to a bold new future. It is useful to note that we are fighting over the same issues they did more than a hundred years ago. We must have been asleep or something, or out with President Grant.

The energy is high, almost palpable. The authorities say we may not know the results of the contest at the end of election day. I was concerned about that, but the events of 1876 relieved me of anxiety. Everything will probably be fine, and the amazing circus will continue for a few more weeks or months after the election, with the astonishing convolutions of all concerned.

I am sure other rings in the circus will be opened soon, ones filled with thrills and the occasional chills.

Forward!

Copyright 2020 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com