I was approached today by a man dressed in colonial garb and festooned with buttons signifying his allegiance to various candidates standing in tomorrow’s election. After the recent Halloween celebration, I had grown used to seeing people in costume on the streets of Sleepy Hollow. I was not prepared, however, for his boisterous proclamation that he was a member of the Tea Party. Since I was present at the original event of that name and did not recognize him as a fellow visitor from the past—one never knows these days—I inquired what in fact his Tea Party might be. He returned that it was a conservative group, allied with but not beholden to the Republican Party. I then asked what that might be—for the Founding Fathers, Washington in particular, were mortally opposed to political parties and envisioned the political structure of the new republic in a way expressly intended to avoid their institution. It seems their efforts were in vain, for now there are Democrats and Republicans, and no candidate refusing affiliation with one of those stands any chance of election … with, apparently, rare exceptions at which my Tea Party interlocutor scoffed with great vigor.
The history of this so-called Tea Party stems from frustration over taxation. Plus ça change! Yet this Tea Partier appeared most concerned with the intrusion of government into his private life. This is a worry most certainly shared by the Founding Fathers, but I’m not sure that they ever could have imagined the world we now live in.…
Tomorrow is Election Day. I am drinking coffee in a shop devoted to that divine bean—at two dollars per cup!—and listening to people make entreaties to people just outside. However, many display no interest. How can this be? In a land where everyone may shout his opinion on the street, what possible reason could there be for not seizing the opportunity to make that opinion known by secret ballot? One that so many of my brothers and I died on the battlefield for?
Abigail’s answer to this question was succinct and, I fear, cynical: She shrugged and said most people did not believe their votes made any difference. Astonishing! What else can make a difference? I shall never understand Americans.
That said, the Tea Partier’s tricorn hat was quite dignified. Not all men can wear them well. Katrina used to prefer me in less formal haberdashery.
The Spanish influence on this country is quite extraordinary. I knew little of it when I was present in the Colonies, beyond an understanding that Spanish missionaries were active in the Floridas and in the west beyond the Mississippi River. But to look at a map of this country is to see the Hispanophone influence writ large: Tejas now Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, New Mexico (!)—and the burgeoning cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, San Antonio. How holy this vision of the Spanish America must have been … although from what I understand of Las Vegas, the piety of the missionary Franciscans has been replaced by quite a different way of life.
We hold these truths to be self-evident:
– That “leftenant” is an intrinsically superior pronunciation;
– That buttons are in all cases superior to zippers;
– That cotton and wool are in all cases superior to artificial fabrics;
– That books should be composed of pages which can be turned rather than screens to be swiped;
– That it is no dishonor to be termed “old-fashioned”;
– That contemporary modes of feminine dress are to be saluted, and those of male dress to be eyed skeptically;
– That urban life in these United States would be much improved by the re-introduction of horses;
– That it was a grave error on the part of the Framers to omit privacy from their enumerated list of natural rights;
– That it was a yet graver error on their part to make no clear provision eliminating chattel slavery;
– That despite that and other errors, the founding documents of this country are marvels of vision and endurance;
– That this future is good and I consider myself quite privileged to experience it.
