Stink All Over Us

I see these beetles when I'm out walking in the desert. I think it's a Broad-necked Darkling Beetle, aka, stink bug, though surely every region has its own stink bug. As soon as they feel disturbed or threatened, their heads plunge down and their asses thrust up, getting ready to release their stinky deterrent spray if needed. Sometimes I've seen them so alarmed, they flip over, tumble, struggle to right themselves, probably exactly what would happen to me if I had to use my bear spray on a charging grizzly.

Predators get around the beetle's deterrence system by quickly burying its stink-end in the sand and just eating its head and delectable upper torso.

I think about these beetles a lot. Often they make me laugh. Yesterday, they made me think about our country's political leaders and the 2024 elections, especially the presidential election. I think there's a whole lot of head-in-the-sand, ass-in-the-air alarmism and foolery going on. I think as a country, we've got stink all over us. Some days I'm watching the news and it's so ridiculous I laugh and forget that if I get too close, kablamo, I'm covered in more stink juice.

I have a modest request to make, one requiring some sacrifice of ego and individual ambition, but that if these folks could just get their head out of the sand and do what needs to be done, the entire country would be better off for it. Here's my proposal (and I can't be the only one that's thought of this, so let me just cast my vote here for this being a swell idea):

Neither President Joe Biden nor Former President Donald Trump should run for president in 2024. These ongoing threats of impeachment about Hunter Biden, the current president's age and health, and the legal circus and charges against the former president . . . look, we've got serious issues to deal with as a country and a planet. Surely among the 330 million adults living in the United States, we can find some candidates to run for office who won't take up our time with these shenanigans.

Both Senator Diane Feinstein and Senator Mitch McConnell should call it quits. Thank you for your service but you've served a LONG time. Enjoy the last years of your life, deal with what's ailing you, and trust that others can pick up the proverbial football and run with it.

See, fair, right? Each party gives up the same amount. I feel relieved already.

As a final bit to my proposal, I'm looking for some term limits and age limits for holding office. Yes, people are living longer and in good health, physically and mentally. Experience is a valuable teacher and such wisdom should be respected and put to good use. Not to pick an arbitrary number, but I'll just throw out 70 or younger as one's age on Election Day as the maximum age you can be when running for a term in office. Most will then be in their mid-70s at the oldest, at which point their own wisdom should tell them it's time for someone to serve. And, come on, with all due respect to these public servants (those who actually see themselves this way and do the work in that spirit, which I don't see enough of, frankly), some of these folks have been in office for three, four, five decades. Let's be generous and give a politician twenty years, if they want and can keep getting elected. That's more than enough time to share whatever wisdom they have, basically the length of a generation. But given the system we have, the reason these folks keep getting elected instead of ousted is that seniority rules the day on The Hill. Money and power accrues and the politicians as well as the people from those states who elected them don't want to lose that power. Kentuckians are going to willingly give away their power to some senator from another state, right? So, we have a minimum age to be elected to these offices, and now it's time to enact a maximum age. Some will decry this as ageist. Maybe it is, a little, but can't it also just be about sharing power and leadership, people knowing when to graciously step aside so others can take the reins?

Before my dad died, we, his family, were worried about his ability to drive. His eyes were terrible and he had health issues that might have easily led to an incident while behind the wheel. We talked about having the "give us the keys" conversation. We were angry when the DMV kept renewing his license. Mostly, we were just lucky something bad didn't happen, given our failure to make the hard decision and have the dread conversation.

The people I've mentioned by name in this post aren't seeing for themselves that they shouldn't be driving the "car" of our government any more. It's wearying us all. They would be doing everyone a great favor if they all would agree at the same time to bow out, hand over the keys. If they don't, I hope we, the American people, can muster the courage to make the decision for them, because this situation we have right now really stinks.