Politics and Poplar Trees

When I was growing up, we had a Carolina poplar tree in our back yard, planted by the general contractor who built our house. The little tree with the broomstick-sized trunk grew into by far the tallest thing in the neighborhood, and my Dad couldn't put his arms all the way around the trunk. The tree was a good landmark for telling people how to get to my house. It was also a target for lightning. When I was away at college, the tree took a direct hit during a thunderstorm, making a loud BOOM and showering the whole back yard with bark fragments. Afterward, the tree looked ok, but there was always the danger that it would fall and crush our house. My parents hired professionals to come take the tree down. It took all day, with five different trucks coming and going out of our yard, and all kinds of ropes and pulleys. They didn't so much cut the tree down as they dismantled it. Right down to the stump shredder at the very end. But the tree, which had occupied that spot for 15-plus years, wasn't going without a fight. Its root system spanned the neighborhood, and for months afterward, the roots sent up little shoots that would get caught in your lawnmower blades and fly up and hit you in the face.

That's how I see the aftermath of this week's election. You had two political parties that served their purpose for a while, but they had gotten so gridlocked and corrupt that they threatened to completely collapse and take the rest of us with them. The election took out many of the most damaged parts of the executive and legislative branches. But the daily op-eds are like little sprouts coming out of the entrenched roots of this old rotten tree. All these pundits can talk about is how their party used the wrong tactics, and how they can position themselves better so they can get power back into their own hands as soon as possible. You don't hear them talking about how we can all work together to rebuild our nation. Oh no. They are just looking to get back on top. Well, it's time to get out the stump shredder and the lawnmower and make sure that this old rotten tree is completely gone so that whatever we put in its place has a chance to do some good.