Federalism May Save Us
Halloween is upon us and it is my favorite time of year. The primary reason is because it is now an irrelevant holiday, in the United States at least. There is no other real point to the celebration other than the celebration itself. I title this feeling the “commonality of purpose”. We are all gathered together, acting silly, for no other reason than to act silly and have fun. That is a wonderful thing that I really really love. Yet, I had a small moment today, that made me hopeful.
Things are not great in America. While you may agree that there are issues, how the Trump Administration is pursuing those issues is not ideal. Inflation is on the rise, the White House is literally being demolished, and armed government thugs are abducting citizens off the streets. (Side rant: where are you “republican freedom fighters???” Where are you “they are coming to take our freedom” crowd???). And yet, we are approaching the holiday season.
I am a sucker for the holidays. Honestly, I think most Americans are. I carve a pumpkin every year. I see A Christmas Carol every year. I truly try to be kind and generous at this time of year. And I believe that most people do as well. Which is why I think that this mentality is not only baked into the culture, but it is also a part of the hard facts of our country. As I leaned out my San Francisco apartment window, I was confronted with commonality.
I try to carve my pumpkin about 3 to 5 days before Halloween. They tend to rot within that timeframe. My goal is to have it lit in darkness as much as possible. I will truly wake up around 1am and relight the candle in the pumpkin so that people can see a little Jack-O-Lantern during October. Tonight was no different. I wanted to relight my pumpkin around 10pm and continue the holiday spirit for those walking by on the busy city streets. I opened my hatch window about 8 feet above the busy street and reached to the right to grab my unlit pumpkin. The night was dark and the air was cool. It was fall and I wanted a Jack-O-Lantern lit in my window. I opened the vessel, tossed out the old candle and relit the new. But as I placed it back in its place, someone called out.
“Hey man, that's pretty cool.”
This was a stranger. This was nobody. With all due respect, his car was broken down, he wasn’t dressed at all, he was clearly bedding down for the night in his vehicle. And yet, he saw me lighting a Jack-O-Lantern and he had to respond. I said “thanks man, I love Halloween.” We both smiled, and that was that.
America is big, diverse, and filled with culture. That culture is fundamentally tied to being decent, kind, fair, and friendly. I have written about this before, but what the Trump Administration is trying to do to us, divide us, I don’t think will work. Not only are we too large, but we are too united. That is actually the hilarious part of their agenda. We are too united to be divided. Because America is too great. We were never not great, we were always great. The United States has achieved a United People. Because we just want to have fun and be left alone. We just want to live in harmony.
The very system of our federalist separation of powers, which has over time created 50 separate states, which has now created 10,000 communities, is now invincible. Because you cannot beat community from the outside. Not without a really big pumpkin…
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