Zigzag

The weather zigzags its way through autumn. On Wednesday the wind came up hard and dragged in dark slate grey clouds. Rain came in sheets, thrown against the window. There was pea sized hail, enough to gather in little white piles alongside the house. Friday morning we bundled up in wool hats, sweaters and coats for breakfast on Pete and Vi’s back porch. And today, I was too warm walking in just a quilted cotton top. We keep both our winter and summer clothes unpacked, changing from wool knee socks to sandals from day to day. But soon enough, it will be time to pack away those sandals and light cotton clothes until spring.

The leaves have been glorious this fall. The locals say it’s because we had a fairly dry summer and a pretty intense cold snap in September. On the local news the weather map shows the regions where leaves are just turning, near peak, at peak, and past peak. It is, in part, an economic issue. Good leaf peeping draws tourists up from downstate with their desperately needed dollars. Because of all the wind this week tearing the leaves down we are past peak. But Main Street was full of tourists late this morning when we went in to the Farmers’ Market. A welcome sight. Cooperstown’s economy is driven by Bassett Hospital, but tourists make a big difference to the small businesses on Main, the difference between making it to next spring and failing. There is still plenty of excellent color for the tourists to enjoy. And happily, they are wearing their masks.

The Village put up sandwich board signs notifying readers that masks are required in the business district in Cooperstown, and just about every store has a sign on the door requiring masks. One of our citizens took it upon himself to spray paint big black Xs across most of the sandwich board signs on Main. Sadly, the damage he did was just under the dollar limit for a felony, so it’s only a misdemeanor. But he’s been caught and charged, certainly a hero to some. Most of Cooperstown was furious. The signs have been pretty effective at getting tourists to mask up, which they were not doing consistently during the summer. The attack on the signs is just another confirmation of our political and social dis-function. But as far as I know, no one is plotting to kidnap our mayor.

The lawn signs in Cooperstown are predominantly for Democratic candidates, but as soon as we leave Cooperstown in any direction, it is nearly all Trump signs and flags. Hartwick is pretty depressing in that regard, and the Confederate flag hammers home the point about who some of my neighbors are and what motivates them. There are a few Biden signs, but they look isolated and vulnerable. Deb, the lovely lady who cleans our house efficiently and effectively, scrupulously masked, who is totally reliable and a great communicator, has a Trump sign on her lawn. It gives me pause. I know people on both sides of the political chasm here. They are all human, loving children and grandchildren, wanting a bright, safe and prosperous future for them. Yet we could not see what it takes to usher in that future more differently. We live in completely different information ecosystems.

I’m putting my energy into the League of Women Voters Get Out The Vote efforts. We have a core team of eight volunteers in a larger extended team. Despite Covid, we’ve held a few, safe in person registration events outdoors. We’re publishing useful information in the newspapers and various newsletters, on Facebook, on lawn signs and on handouts. We have ads on the radio, and I did a radio interview about options for voting and the importance of making a specific plan to vote. There’s no way to measure it, but I imagine our efforts have minimal impact other than making us feel useful and purposeful. But we have become knowledgeable advocates of voting, and we are helping to spread accurate information.

It seems essential to me to be part of a non-partisan effort, although it’s hard to claim that our local League is in fact non-partisan. We take positions on issues, as the National League does, and those positions, on access to health care, on the environment, on gun control are all now intensely partisan. It’s not surprising that we are all Democrats, and no longer trusted as an honest broker for candidate information. The Democratic candidates fill out the answers to questions on our website, but the Republican candidates, invited in exactly the same way to answer exactly the same questions ignore us. Our website looks entirely partisan – our outreach efforts to Republicans are invisible or not believed.

I’m too busy with the election now, but once it’s over my mission is to work to restore our non-partisan credentials. We need to reach out to get Republicans to join – even if it means minimizing our issue positions. There have to be places where we can meet and be civil across our deep differences. Like many Democrats, I’m tempted to pack the court in retaliation for Merrick Garland and Amy Barrett. But it just keeps us zigzagging, focused on the exercise of power rather than the power of collaboration. I’m hopeful that Biden will find a way to pull us back from the brink. I can’t imagine the future if he loses, just as I’m sure Deb can’t imagine the future if he wins. We’ve all zigged or zagged too far from common ground. We need to find our way back to a shared reality.