Bill Berry: With problems galore, why opt for more of the same?

Bill Berry  —  9/16/2008 5:24 am

STEVENS POINT -- Dan the masonry man returned my call the other day. He's been busy as all get-out, but he agreed to come over to clean my wood stove chimney and look at some brick work on the front porch.

He runs his masonry business in the day and then pulls a night shift at a shipping company to make ends meet, but Dan's always up for a chat. Usually at this time of year, it's duck hunting. But not in an election year. Then it's politics. He takes the time to stay informed the old-fashioned way: He reads.

When I asked him about this year's election, his summary was blunt. "People are stupid."

Dan's not terribly surprised that Americans in sufficient numbers may be poised to embrace John McCain and Sarah Palin as their agents of so-called change. He's not surprised that the polls, flawed though they might be, show it's a dead heat.

A new America could emerge in November, but Dan's not counting on it. The economy is in the tank, the cost of living is skyrocketing, we are mired in an unpopular and never-ending conflict across the globe, and respected scientists around the world warn that we have days, not years, to fix global warming. Yet Americans are split down the middle on who should be the next president. Why, I ask Dan, would Americans want more of the same?

He figures that McCain's handlers have fashioned a crafty message that allows people who don't want much change at all to choose him and say they voted for change. Let's face it, he could be right. A lot of us abhor change. Yes, things are bad, but change might be worse. In this race, Mr. McChange offers the perfect opportunity to vote for a wee bit of change, but nothing drastic, such as affordable and accessible health care for all Americans.

The only thing that might upset the apple cart are variables like, egads, voter turnout. Of course, with the race this close, Republican strategists are free to employ an effective if cynical and racist tactic: Suppress the vote by challenging the rights of urban people of color to cast a ballot. Obama could embrace the cause of voters' rights as a modern day civil rights issue, but these days he's coming off as John Kerry light.

Yes, the optimists say, but the young voters will rise up this time and make change. It is good to be hopeful, but certain facts put a damper on enthusiasm. One is history: This has not been a reliable constituency. Then there is present day reality: These are not the most informed citizens. They've grown up in a digital world that equates books with antique stores.

A National Endowment for the Arts report issued late last year is a little too real, but it's worth revisiting. The report, "To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence," created a little wave when it was released, but not much. Of course, you have to read to understand its significance, and the report was about Americans' unwillingness to read -- especially younger generations.

The NEA report shows that Americans, especially the young, read less and read less well today than anytime in the past several decades. Nearly half of all Americans ages 18 to 24 read no books for pleasure. The percentage of 18- to 44-year-olds who read a book fell 7 points from 1992 to 2002. Graduating from college doesn't seem to matter. One in three graduates doesn't pick up a book after getting a diploma. The report is point-blank in its assessment: With lower levels of reading skills, people fare less well in the job market and are less likely to engage in civic and cultural life.

So here we are in September 2008. Newspapers are out, news magazines are flagging, people read less and less, TV flap-jaws are the main source of news for many, and people at a national political convention cry "Drill, baby, drill" instead of "Change, baby, change." The word "pension" is ancient history, we're building the American equivalent of the Great Wall of China with debt financed by China, heating costs are expected to rise 20-plus percent this year, and the two presidential tickets are in a dead heat.

When Dan comes over to clean the chimney, I'm going to remind him of what Will Rogers said so long ago: "There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."

There's a 50-50 chance that America is about to pee on the fence. But hey, it's a little different fence than last time. That's change for you.

Bill Berry of Stevens Point writes a regular column for The Capital Times.

Bill Berry  —  9/16/2008 5:24 am