Vote for Joe

Our son Jonathan’s high school soccer team made it to the State Championship game this season. They won four games in overtime in the playoffs to get there. It was quite an exciting run and reminiscent of the old Browns “Kardiac Kids,” who won eight games on the last possession. In the newspaper, I started calling Jonathan’s team the “Pulmonary Pirates.” (They lost in the Championship Game, which was played at the Columbus Crew Stadium.) Jonathan, who is a striker, and another boy on the team who plays defense, both were named 2nd Team All-State. Note: This was a trophy the boys won early on this season in an early weekend tournament.

My son and I stopped at the now world famous “Lehman’s” the other day. It’s in Kidron, Ohio. They sell everything: “human-powered.” That is, the store is patterned after what would be used, basically, in an Amish household, and on an Amish farm in general. No electricity needed, or wanted. They sell everything you need for a non-electric kitchen, as an example. Our western culture, in fact, in its quest for “convenience” at every level, has, in turn, become tremendously “energy gluttonous” — including in the kitchen. Electric blenders, dicers, slaw cutters… The world’s people, as a collective, have pumped 55 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the skies this last year, the most ever. Part of this emanates from our kitchens and all these electric appliances. Gluttony is a sin. And its time to dial all that back, so to speak, and, just as collectively, start patronizing the “Lehman’s” of the world. For the sake of averting more climate change — and for the sake of saving more souls.

I interviewed a representative involved with Ohio Northern University’s Chapter of Amnesty International this week. As one example, he said his chapter was focusing on gun violence in America. He attributed part of the escalation to a commensurate increase in violent media/entertainment. He would be right. What’s more, watching violence increases viewership numbers, and, in turn, increases advertising dollars to those kinds of shows, which, of course, then generates more of those types of shows. So people who watch the violent shows, become, in a very real sense, “accomplices.” Not to mention just watching much of the media violence these days is sin behavior. Period.

In the last week, I’ve interviewed two people who have a Volkswagen Beetle and a Smart car, respectively. The Beetle gets 30 mpg, highway. The Smart car gets 45 mpg, highway. Now on this climate change thing… Bernie Sanders, for instance, is decrying “big oil.” Ha! Whose creating the demand for the oil? Uh, us. Our vehicle choices (sans the Beetle/Smart cars) are, oh, not the best. What’s more, our driving habits aren’t either. Read: gluttonous. The reason Sanders isn’t saying that is because he wants your votes, but isn’t necessarily too concerned about your souls. Our transportation policy , based on years of cross country research, is concerned about your souls — not to mention the planet’s longevity. I mean, what kind of parent would want to leave a world of climate chaos to their children?

I covered a village council meeting the other night for the local newspaper. Some political science class students from Bluffton University were in attendance (as a class assignment). Afterwards, I interviewed one of the students. She said she is from Columbus and had attended several city council meetings there. What struck her most about this small village council meeting was all the nuance and discussion on even the smallest of points. Note: Our platform calls for a shift, with much more power/decision making happening on these local levels — where people are more in touch with he issues they face.