(Thomas Froese photo)
Passing a sign encouraging Americans to vote, a visitor enters the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge MA.
(The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, November 2, 2024)
STOCKBRIDGE, MA – I woke up this morning and realized that it’s time to run for American president again. I get this urge, like a recurring rash, every four years or so.
I’d been at a New York wedding, then kept driving and ended up in Massachusetts. The wedding joined a Canadian and American, like a bridge joining countries. Yes, there was drinking. No, I’m not hungover. But I’m creating a new political party: the Neighbourhood Party
To join, like George Washington, just get on your horse and get into the thick of it. Knock on a door. Say, “Hey man. I’m your neighbour.” Then listen. Get a pulse of things. It’s what I’m doing as a Canadian here in the Divided States
As far as I can see, nobody knows what’s going on. This may or may not improve after Tuesday’s presidential vote. Which is where the Neighbourhood Party comes in. People still appreciate a good party any day of the year.
The Neighbourhood Party is concerned more about how it can win, so to speak, on Wednesday, that’s November 6. And December 6 and, naturally, January 6, and so on. Besides, we can’t make party signs by Tuesday.
People want a new way. A third way. A better way. A better say. Less anxiety. More than Tweedledee or Tweedledum. More than pathological lies from any dumpy convicted criminal. People want an honest national adventure, really, because isn’t adventure the essence of anyone’s life?
Here, while hiking, I’ve heard laments from Americans named Walter and Mimi. Then something similar from another couple telling me in a restaurant that after Tuesday they’ll maybe move to Canada. Yes, thanks, bring a snow shovel.
Later, in a Stockbridge gift shop, when I mentioned the Neighbourhood Party, one woman said, “I’d join!” And at the historic Red Lion Inn, with my second coffee, my server, Godfrey, said he’d appreciate more choice. “I mean, in a country of 350 million people, this is the best we have?”
The old inn, visited by several American presidents, has a large front porch. So I sat there thinking about it all. Thinking about front porches. They’re important. Why? Because you can’t love your neighbour if you can’t see your neighbour. This is why, along with food, front porches will be a key plank in the Neighbourhood Party’s platform.
Also, like thoughtful Mennonite pacifists, we’ll beat guns into plowshares. You know the weapons. The phones. They’re killing us. Killing us inside. In our spirits. Everyone shooting at each other on social media like it’s a game. Or war. Mennonites never shoot their neighbours. They just rebuild their neighbours’ barns.
No, really. The mirror that we as a society have always used to see ourselves as whole communities, as whole people, is somehow shattering into a million pieces, fragmenting sharp and dangerous. For some, our entire shared reality is fragmenting. Call me a fool, but I don’t think this is a small deal.
It’s all the more reason to humanize the neighbours. Knock on a door. Share a drink. A meal. Ask questions. In your neighbourhood and also further away when opportunity presents.
Of course, travel is also essential to the Neighbourhood Party. In fact, if the neighbours aren’t home when you stop by, leave a calling card like “Gulliver’s Travels,” Jonathan Swift’s classic novel. It’s a personal favourite about both travel and political tomfoolery.
In Lilliput, Gulliver discovered Big-Endians. They’d rebelled against the king who wanted everyone breaking their boiled eggs at the little end, like Little-Endians. Two factions. Us. Them. God help us. And God help them. No, really.
I’m a husband. A father. A writer. A fellow traveller. A Big-Endian by habit, I suppose. Imperfect in all, even as a neighbour. Here’s your invitation to, among your roles, be an imperfect neighbour too. Just come as you are. Forget those colours of politics. Join the party. Life’s too short to do anything less.
A good one, Thom!
The “Divided States” – so true – so unfortunate.
As a good neighbour, I offered to sponsor my fav Americans to move here if a criminal moves back into the White House. For four years, at least.
The NP. Where do I sign up?
We have a front porch. We are Little-Endians but we have no issues with Big-Endians!
Continue writing! You are a pleasure to read.
Well, it’s always good to get affirmation from Little-Endians.
You just go to a neighbour or two and suggest connecting over a refreshing drink or meal. That’s it. Then they go to two neighbours and so on, and so on.
Well let’s see what happens. Lies, like crime, can only run so far because they have such short legs. But, sadly, they can still get at least some distance.