Even though it’s still summer and 90-degree temperatures are forecast for the next few days, a week of September has passed us by. And, yes, there’s a hint of fall in the air. And, even though it doesn’t announce itself until later, scarecrows and fodder shocks will be popping up as autumn takes a firmer hold on the season.
Here in Northeast Tennessee, the early mornings are just a hint cooler and less humid. There is a kiss of fall in the air as autumn makes a subtle appearance. There are signs of its coming all around us from the shorter days, the gentling of the light so that the sun feels really good, longer shadows, and deeper blue skies.
No matter how subtle, the change is happening.
The grasshoppers have arrived, as have the crickets. The squirrels are foraging.
Henry David Thoreau in a letter to another writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, described September best: “Every blade in the field, every leaf in the forest, lays down its life in its season, as beautifully as it was taken up. It is the pastime of a full quarter of the year. Dead trees, sere leaves, dried grass and herbs — are not these a good part of our life? And what is that pride of our autumnal scenery but the hectic flush, the sallow and cadaverous countenance of vegetation? It’s painted throes, with the November air for canvas?”
How do we know that fall is almost here? Baseball season has hit the homestretch, football season is well underway. This weekend the long-awaited game of the season — the Battle of Bristol — will be played. The Tennessee Vols and the Virginia Tech Hokies will be battling it out on a field just made for football at the Bristol Motor Speedway. The game is expected to draw one of the biggest crowds ever for college football.
Autumn holds more than just colored leaves, cooler temperatures and football. This year, it’s the season for a presidential election, which has not lacked for color or sport. The campaign between Trump and Clinton has been a game all of its own. Trump, a rank outsider who has never held political office, has come from nowhere to seize the spotlight, headlines and votes. Clinton, a well-seasoned politician, is the first woman to claim a major party presidential nomination. However, she has her own baggage, among which is her trustworthiness and character.
The bigger question for 2016 voters, therefore, is not about Trump or Clinton, Republican or Democrat. It is about how to manage a changing, less homogenous, less wealthy and less dominant America in a highly competitive, often chaotic and dangerous 21st-century world. The American nation is living beyond its means at home and increasingly failing to project its will and interests abroad. This is a serious moment, perhaps even a turning point, as the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, suggests. The appalling Trump, in particular, must understand this. Bragging, bluster and bullying do not cut it. At this critical hour, America needs leadership.
Just as autumn can be unpredictable, so is the presidential election. Earlier this year we suggested the folks who will determine the outcome of meaningful elections this fall are who those who decide to stay away.
If you’re among those not excited about the 2016 presidential matchup, there is still too much at stake to disconnect. Among the races on the November ballot are the First District U.S. House seat, state legislative races. In Elizabethton, there are seats to be filled on the City Commission and School Board.
Yes, fall is about scarecrows, ghouls and goblins, but in the mix are politicians, who hope to add a bit more excitement and color to the season. Perhaps, it’s fitting that the presidential election this year follows Halloween!