Some Thoughts On the 2026 Elections

The picture above is a depiction of the first Constitutional Convention that convened in Philadelphia in 1787.  It produced the document that the President takes an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend", an oath that the Current Occupant of the White House (COTWH) regards cavalierly at best.  I will explain in a bit why I am posting that picture, but first, a few words about the mid-term elections of 2026.

• The President spent much of the last month barnstorming the country imploring people to vote "as if I am on the ballot."  It seems that the country did exactly that, and sent a stunning rebuke to the COOTWH.
• Political ads get more repellant with each election cycle.  Last month we spent two weeks in Hilton Head, SC, so we got to see such disgusting ads from both South Carolina and Georgia in addition to what we have been watching in Pennsylvania these last two months.  To that end, I was happy to see Dr. Annie Andrews win the Senate seat in SC and Keisha Lance Bottoms win the gubernatorial race in Georgia, defeating "Slick Rick" Jackson.
• Obviously, the absolute worst ad was the one that Vivek Ramaswamy ran against Dr. Amy Acton in the Ohio gubernatorial race.  I won't detail it here, you all know what it was about, and you can Google it if you don't.  Not far behind on the Offensiveness Meter to me was the ad that Stacy Garrity (R) ran depicting an AI-generated PA Governor Josh Shapiro (D) talking shit about himself.  Both Ramaswamy and Garrity lost in landslides.
• During the primary race this spring, PA State Senator Camera Bartolotta of Washington County ran ads that always mentioned her affiliation  with the COOTWH, even showing pictures of her with the President.  "I am with D___ T___ all the way" was the theme of her ads.  (Sorry, but I can't even bring myself to type his name.)  Her ads in the general election made absolutely no mention of the President and her fealty to him.  She bucked the statewide and nationwide trend and was a Republican who won her election race.  Coincidence?

Okay, why the picture from the Constitutional Convention?

Well, one of the "bellweather election battles" being closely watched last night was the Senate race in Maine between Democratic challenger Troy Jackson and Republican incumbent Susan Collins, who was running for her SIXTH term in the US Senate.  Six terms!!  Did those founding fathers depicted above, enlightened as they were, ever visualize that someone  would actually serve for thirty years in the Senate and want to do it for another six years?  

I looked up Senator Collins and see that she is 73 years old, and will turn 74 on Monday, December 7.   That prompted my to go to the Google Machine and ask "How many US Senators are age 70 or older?"  Turns out that 33 of our Senate members have passed into their eighth decade of life, and of this thirty-three, 7 of them are over age 80, and one of them, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is 92.   I turned 75 last month and among the things that I am thinking about is "how long will it be before I have to give up my car keys?"

(It's not quite so dramatic in the House of Representatives. Eighty-six of the current 435 members, approximately 20%, and age 70 or older.)

I sincerely think that George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton ("his name is Alexander Hamilton") and all the others never intended that service in the newly formed United States Congress was to be a lifetime job.  Don't these people want to spend time with their grandchildren?

By the way, Troy Jackson (D), age 58, defeated Collins in Maine.