The pendulum swings.  Always.

How far left or right will it go?  As divided as the country is it’s doubtful that it will stray very far.  But, it need not stray far to dramatically tip the balance of power.

A few states could lead to a few seats in the House, Senate, or the one in the Oval Office.  One party might even utter the word “mandate” by sun up on Wednesday.

The choice is yours—or it could be yours if the right combination of Wisconsin, Michigan,

Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, or New Mexico fall your way.

How does one party WIN? Or, stated differently, What’s Important Now.  The contrast between the parties is stark.

Do you want a bigger government or a smaller one?

Do you want more handouts given, or debt forgiven?  Or, less?  Or, none?

Do you think these handouts, disguised as Inflation Reduction Acts, first-time home buyer credits, etc. increase inflation?  How about interest rates?

Do you want a lot more debt, or a lot, lot more debt?

Do you want border control or a border that is out of control?

Do you support continued funding of the Ukrainian side of the two-year-old war with Russia?  Or, do you back a man who says he’ll have a ceasefire agreement done before he takes office?

Do you fully support Israel and denounce Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist actions?  Or do you like a candidate who runs a commercial in Michigan pro- Gaza/Palestine and another in Pennsylvania standing with the Jewish population?

Is the right to abortion, disguised as women’s healthcare, the deciding factor when you cast your vote?  The demolition of Roe v Wade returned the decision to the state level.  It did not eliminate the right.

Do you want outsiders like Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk, and RFK to have a hand in significantly reshaping and downsizing DC?  Or, do you want more and more bureaucrats doing more and more of the same?

Do you want gender reassignment surgery to be paid for by the government for military personnel as well as federal imprisoned criminals?

Do you want a convicted felon who’s tough on crime or a former California DA and AG who’s not?

Do you want a former president who lost the last election or a current VP who didn’t garner 1% of her party’s primary vote in 2020 or 2024 for very different reasons?

Do you want someone who lost to Joe Biden or one who helped hide a lost Joe Biden?

Do you want someone whose words infuriate many or one who uses too many words?

Do you want someone who leads on policy decisions or one who leans on others to define policy?

Do you want the devil you know or the chameleon you don’t?

Is this a major pivot point in our country’s history?  Yes.

The polls are tight.

Will we know by late tonight?

Probably not.

Four years ago Joe Biden said he was running for office because we were in a battle for the soul of our nation.

Shortly after he took office he instructed his VP, Kamala Harris, as Border Czar to get to the root cause of the border “problem.”

And four years later we have 15 million new souls illegally in our nation.  Biden was polling so well that he stepped away (was forced out) from his reelection campaign.

Enter the next anointed one.  Kamala said she is running to save our nation’s democracy.

She’s qualified based on the job she did at the border one would guess.  Or not.

As VP she’s recently intimately involved in federal disaster relief efforts.  Earlier this week she attempted to call Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to offer her and the nation’s assistance with fast approaching Hurricane Milton.  One problem.  Ron said she didn’t call this time or for past hurricanes either.

Right in the middle of football season, hurricanes became a political football.  Where’s FEMA?  North Carolina wants to know.  They’re there said Team Kamala.

Hurricanes hitting Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida twice might be god’s way of cleansing those heathen red states.  You know them as the ones who oppose abortions and love guns.

Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted that our government was steering those storms.  Life was simpler when we only thought that the Russians were seeding our clouds.

That sounds as preposterous as the accusation by Hillary that Trump staffers were meeting with the Russians to interfere with our elections when Team Hillary was. Or does it?

Cue the climate change zealots.  These severe storms are further proof that climate change is upon us.  It’s not proof.  They’re more intense.  Except, they’re not.  They are more frequent.   Except, they’re not.

They’ve been around longer than any trees we’ve cut down to put up windmills that need generators to turn them when the wind doesn’t blow.  Trees take away CO2 so now we’re building CO2 capture facilities.  But we digress.

In the early fall in the south, two things are a given- football and hurricanes.

Climate change would be a hurricane in Wisconsin in February.

Hurricanes even have a dry side and a dirty side much like how martinis can be made.  Kamala might like them after all.

Hopefully, God spared all of those souls in Tampa and Orlando overnight.

Politics aside, they must vote soon to ensure we save our democracy.

Kamala said so.

Tuesday night it was JD Vance squaring off against Tim Walz.  Did you watch the possible VPs debate?

It’s debatable as to who won.

Ask most any Republican and they’ll go on camera, tweet, or tell you that it was JD Vance and it wasn’t close.  Ask almost any Democrat and they’ll explain in similar fashion that it was Coach Tim Walz and it wasn’t close.

These are the divided days that look at things in very different ways.

Perhaps most importantly did this debate sway many or even any undecided/independent voters in the few battleground states that inevitably will decide who the next President of the United States will be?

We’d venture a guess that lands between not likely and doubtful.  Why, you may ask.

When was the last time, if any time, that you voted for someone for the highest office in the land because of who their choice was for the second highest office in the land?

In 1861 Hannibal Hamlin served under Abe Lincoln.  He would have made a fine professor.  Hannibal Lecture.

In 1969 Richard Nixon had a clown named Spiro T Agnew as his right-hand man.  After months of maintaining his innocence, Agnew pleaded no contest to a single felony tax evasion charge and resigned from office.

Nixon was so damaged by his choice that he selected Gerald Ford as his replacement.  And, with a little help from perusing Watergate, he was reelected in 1972.  Maybe he was not so damaged. Nixon resigned from office also, reminding us on the way, “I am not a crook!”

Who could forget Walter Mondale?  Everyone.

Take J Danforth Quayle.  Please.  Who knew that he had trouble spelling potato?  Or is it “potatoe?”  George Herbert Walker Bush didn’t.

Quayle would have had no shot in 2020.  Biden vowed to pick a woman for VP and a black woman for Justice of the Supreme Court if he were elected.  How do you spell DEI?

Voila.  There was/is VP and Border Czar Kamala Harris.  Along the way, Biden’s diminished capacity was evident in 2020 unless you didn’t want to see it.

What’s the history lesson?

America votes for the first name on the ballot, not the accompanying one.

Speaking of debates, will Trump go another round with Harris?  It seems like she is desirous and he is hesitant.  Is that because the polls show America favors him?  Or, is it because she won debate number one in the eyes of the watching public and he wants no part of round two?

This likely will come down to never-Trumpers, abortion enthusiasts, and J6 disdain vs. the economy, border, and threat of WWIII.

JD and Coach won’t have another go.

America doesn’t have enough interest.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which does a lot of things but reducing inflation is not one of them, provided the IRS with an additional 80 billion dollars to hunt down tax cheats.  With the loose change, the IRS planned to hire up to 88 thousand additional agents.

They said they were going after the rich folks.  But, it also gave the green light to tighten the efforts against workers who primarily earn their income from tips.

The bill passed when Vice President Kamala Harris voted “yay” to break the 50-50 Senate deadlock and was signed into law in August of 2022.

The bloated IRS, chasing tip earners, reminds us of a lion who runs down a field mouse, a tasty treat.  The problem with doing so is that he burns more calories than the consumption of the mouse provides.  But, we digress.

Fast forward to the 2024 campaign for President.  A month ago, former President Donald Trump announced that he would eliminate taxes on tips if he were reelected.  Nevada’s casino industry cheered.

Last week, VP Harris addressed a Nevada rally that numbered in the tens of thousands or tens of hundreds depending on how much or little AI was involved.  Surprise, surprise.  She announced that she would eliminate taxes on tips if she gets elected.  Nevada’s casino industry cheered.

That is a direct reversal of the Act she voted for just two years ago.  This wouldn’t be about winning the swing state, would it?

Does that make her a flip-flopping copycat?  It’s a rare combo.

Take a politician at their word at your peril.  But, one of them will take the Oval Office.   Plenty of bartenders, waitresses, and blackjack dealers will be happy.

But, will it cause plenty of IRS workers to lose their job?  After all, you won’t need to chase the underreported tips of those chasing tips for a living.

It won’t.

The government never “cuts” anything. They only throw the word around like a $5 casino chip.

It’s like the Act.  Spending doesn’t reduce inflation.

In short, Congress decided it had a collection problem. Then it funded a “solution.”  Now the two candidates don’t think it’s a problem.  And, when/if it’s repealed there won’t be a single government job cut from those added.  Has there ever?

The real problem is spending.  But cutting spending doesn’t win votes, it only loses elections.

That’s why we can’t talk about that.

All four horses have now reached the starting gate.  Pop!  Off goes the starter’s pistol.  And, they’re off!

It’s a sloppy start on a long track.

Walz the gelding breaks dead to the left.  Mare Harris, often confused for a hyena, steadies along the rail.

Colt Vance wobbles weirdly before steadying.  Trump the stallion, who probably should have been gelded, tries to find and refine his stride.

Harris now runs stride for stride.  Walz entering the race has boosted her campaign and spirits.  Honeymoons do that.  Then reality sets in.

Some polls show she leads. The trip from a yearling that no one wanted to favored like Secretariat has been swift.  Are they bought and paid for?

As they reach the backstretch RFK, Jr. eats organic oats and looks on from his stall.

Before Biden scratched late and was put out to pasture, RFK wanted in the race.  Race organizers refused.

They then entered a paint horse per the breeders.  She identifies as a black horse now.

This is Walz and Vance’s first run in such a high-stakes race.  Will Walz hit a wall?  Will Vance properly dance on Turmp’s cue?

They reach the far turn.  News breaks that Trump’s ear may have been grazed by the race starter’s shot.  “Some of the doctors said it was the most blood they  have ever seen.”  Is this why he seems confused ever since Harris entered?

Who has the most horse left when they come down the stretch?  Trump says “Some say that I was the best president ever.  Actually, many say that.  Most.”  Some say he sounds like a one-trick pony.  Most say.

What can Harris be, unburdened by what has been?  Will she need a Venn diagram to get her to the finish line?  Ed the Talking Horse has given more interviews thus far, but savvy thoroughbred watchers think they’ll sound similar.  “After all who doesn’t like a yellow school bus?”  What?

As they turn for home Trump rallies, and the crowd real and imagined, roars.  Harris zooms forward and the crowd, real and AI-generated, roars.

ABC has a debate set up for us to see the finish.  Had.  FOX wants one.

It could be a photo finish if the cameras in Arizona and Georgia don’t break.

That would assume that the election will be fair.

Balanced?  Neigh.