I head to the pergola this AM with a cup of Cameron's coffee and - no, not a Perdomo - a Baccarat. 6"x60 ring gauge. I like the big smokes. This is a very mild cigar - hand-rolled, long filler, but still kind of a step above a Swisher Sweet. It has a tiny bit of sweetness to it, but it's not a flavored cigar. Ick. Affordable - $80 for a box. On to the Cigar Story...
One of the many things I love about mornings is the fact that it is quiet. It’s 5:46 on Sunday June 23rd and the world is largely still asleep – certainly Julie and Jack are. I grabbed a cup of coffee, a bagel, a cigar, my i-Pad, Bella (she insisted – the squirrels are likely in her trees and they must be tormented) and headed for the pergola.
By 7:00, I’ll have to get in the shower and head to church, then brunch with my mom and brother. The quiet will be done for the day. But right now, here’s what I hear: Sparrow chirps. A dove coo-ing on the top of my house. Bella’s collar clanking as she goes to investigate one of the things. A truck drive by on CR17. Song birds – are they wrens? A United Airlines 757 on final to DIA – a whole plane load of people had a red-eye form somewhere (side note – ever look up at a plane and pray for everyone on it? I like doing that.)
A dog barks and an air conditioner kicks on and the birds sing and the symphony of the 3rd day of summer in Johnstown, Colorado, comes to life as the sun strikes God’s great creation. To me, it’s perfect. It’s music. We need more of this divinely orchestrated quiet in a world full of noise.
When I had the idea for this Cigar Story, the noise I had in mind was not the kind that can be measured with a decibel meter. The noise I wish to address is the kind that is so prevalent the weekend before a primary election on Tuesday. The noise of which I write comes in the form of television and radio ads, print ads, mailers, social media posts and the ensuing fights – the mud and the muck and the mire of the final days before an election. The Noise.
Yes, I am a second term Weld County Commissioner. Before that, a Johnstown Mayor and Town Council member. My name has been on a ballot seven different times. I consider myself a public servant, but in that I arrive at my job through a political process, I am called a politician. I’m not crazy about the term.
The very noise that is generated is one of the many reasons the political class has gotten a bad rap. Why does it always turn negative? As the parties move further to the extremes, “the normies” reject them both and stay in the middle. The largest voting block in Colorado – by far (one day, soon, I’ll do the actual numbers) – is the unaffiliated voter. I believe the reasons are two-fold: Motor voter (which I stand against) and the fact that both parties have lost their minds.
Be wary of candidates who tell you more about what their opponent has done wrong than what they intend on doing right. I have always endeavored to run campaigns that are “boldly aspirational, not wildly confrontational.” But apparently in a social media-driven, engagement farming world, confrontation generates clicks – and clicks are all that matter.
Look for a candidate that communicates a vision. Displays character. Purports principles. Possesses experience and competency. Not the one who bashes their opponents and evokes fear. That’s just noise.
I used to tease my former radio partner about being more into the Kardashians and reality TV than she was the news of the day and the important task of self-governance. Only later did I sadly realize that many who follow politics are not in it for the policy, rather, they are in it for the cult of personality. They just love Politician A and they just hate Politician B. They have merely traded one form of entertainment for another.
They’re actually in it for the noise.
So the political class generates noise for those noisy few on social media who wish to consume and perpetuate it. And the normies run further to the middle – even worse – they run further away from political engagement, whatsoever.
I have many – many – friends and acquaintances who have their names on ballots right now. Please communicate a vision. Please be boldly aspirational, not wildly confrontational. Please resist jumping into the mud, muck, and mire. Rise above.
Tuesday is just a couple days away. The noise will die down and perhaps we’ll be able to hear God’s great symphony again. For a few weeks, anyway. Then the general election kicks in – and the noise will return.
I’ll close this Cigar Story with a meme I ran across yesterday – a Socrates quote – that is perfect for the here and now…
I thought I was the only one who prayed for a plane up above.