I’ll be voting a split ticket today, some Rs, some Ds. Historically, I’ve voted straight tickets, but this year I just can’t. I’ll be voting for Harris/Walz on the national scene, but for Dave Reichert for governor of WA and probably for the Republican for attorney general. Reichert is the most normal, reasonable Republican to make it to the general election ballot in years, and I am anxious for a change in Olympia. 

My concerns at the state level are with a too-soft approach to crime and a too-woke approach to education. Not to worry, lefty friends, there is no chance that Reichert will win. I’ll continue to be a lonely centrist in a far left state come January.

The national election is too close to call as of today, October 22, 2024. I am anxious about it. My curious streak wants to see what would happen if Trump were to win. Would our fears be realized? Would the world as we know it vanish before our eyes? I’m not willing to risk it, so I’ll be voting for Harris, but I’m anxious about the future even if she wins. 

I have a wild set of hopes and fears if Harris takes the oath in January. Yes, I’d love to see a capable woman become president! And Harris is good enough for me. The long row of white men who have preceded her in the office have not necessarily been the best men in the country at their time. They’ve succeeded in winning for a variety of reasons. Most of them grew in competence while in office. (I can’t imagine that anyone is ready to assume the job of leader of the free world on Day 1.) Harris will be a fast learner, and her values and goals are fine with me…

…With a couple of concerns: Just how woke is she? Can she support the rights of trans adults while accepting the need to temper the demands of the most extreme trans activists with regard to children? Can she temper the enthusiasm of public schools to denigrate both our history and the legitimate accomplishments of western culture? Can she address concerns about the criminal justice system the way she did in her book, “Smart on Crime,” rather than follow the radicals who ruled in 2020? 

On the international scene, I have hopes that Harris will be more supportive of Ukraine than Biden has been, and by that I mean I hope she will support the goal of winning in Ukraine, not just fighting until everyone is exhausted.Trump would just give the Donbas and Crimea to Putin and wash his hands of it all. At least, if she wins, we won’t be pulling the rug out from under Ukraine immediately. 

As for Israel, I don’t have confidence in either Trump or Harris. No one knows what Trump would do. He has insisted that October 7 would not have happened if he’d been in office, Ukraine would not have been invaded, no bad things at all. BS, in my mind. I don’t think his craziness, which he now cultivates as an asset, will prevent all bad things. So what would he actually do for the Middle East? I’m confident that even he has no idea.

What about Harris? More restraints on Israel? Fewer restraints? Could she find moderate Muslim partners to rebuild Gaza? Two States for Two Peoples! Yada, yada, yada. Create a Palestinian state without a complete change of heart by Palestinian leaders willing to accept Israel vocally, in public, risking assassination by doing so – that would mean two states armed sufficiently to maintain order, but also armed for self defense. Personally, I think it will take at least a generation of calm, perhaps longer, before Israel would again consider two equal states. But a Palestinian “starter state?” We should at least talk about it.

People can change. I’ve seen it. My father’s family was just fine with Jim Crow. Separate drinking fountains? Fine with them. Separate schools, of course. Separate public accommodations, sure. And then? They let it go. They didn’t all accept the equality of black and white, but they let go of Jim Crow, and many black Americans have taken advantage of opportunities afforded to them. Remember, though, that we were not rushing to bomb shelters, within our homes, when rockets were fired at us by the victims of Jim Crow. No one had armed them hoping to obliterate us. Rather, we had a leader who spoke courageously of judging people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

Palestinians who might have had the potential to become voices for peaceful coexistence have been systematically “taken out” by Hamas and others. Will any surface from the rubble of Gaza? I trust Harris much more than Trump to find them if they are there and work with them. 

Hopes and fears. I have some hopes and many fears as I cast my ballot this year. How about you?