Yeah, let’s start with the “all the stuff listed above is actually going on. It is all in the process of unfolding. The major story of this installment of our annual life is a curious one, since it evokes old passions of campus life. We are not quite sure wha the pro-Hamas encampments actually means, since it appears to represent a sundering of the traditional base of one of the parties. There is a distinct opinion floating around that the arrays of identical tents and professionally-produced signs of protests actually means this is something else.

A trial run for something larger and later this year? Based on testimony from law enforcement officials, many of those arrested on the property of Ivy League institutions are not actually students in those places. They are instead a relatively small and intensely focused group of professional participants, and this is a dress rehearsal for what they will attempt to do as we get closer to Election Month later this year.

You can see some of the issues being worked on in this iteration. Next time the tents will look like they were dragged out of personal garages, for example, and the signs will look a little more hand-made to demonstrate sincerity. So, despite the momentary emotion, there are still some things being worked out by repetition. What will be the backdrop for them?

We have mentioned the NATO Conference coming to the National Capital Region in July. That will be a possible highly visible venue for demonstrations, or at least the opportunity to refine lessons being learned now. The Democratic Party Convention in Chicago is the next month, in Mid-August, and contains a legacy of another convention held there in 1968 under Mayor Richard Daily.

All the Boomers in the circle remember that panoply of pandemonium and symbols. This one could feature some of the same, or even incorporate the violence of 2020’s Summer of Love, provided by BLM and Antifa.

We hasten to note that some of the current emotion is artificially amplified. We hope that people will adopt a more traditional approach to this election cycle. “Vote Early!” if you wish, but preferably not more “Often.”

So, we hope something approximating our electoral traditions returns. It might not, of course. We will just have to take it as it comes, and at least enjoy the rehearsal!

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com