November 7

Today is Election Day. While, unfortunately, the presidency is not up for grabs there is quite a lot at stake in those offices that are being contested. Thankfully, the campaigns will be over today and with any luck, there will not be any electioneering for a while so that we can manage to catch our breaths. The childish bickering that has marked most of the campaigns for the various offices is tiresome, borders on loathsome and serves to distract us from the real issues of importance. As you prepare to go to the polls and exercise your right to vote I urge you to take a moment, however brief that may be, to consider just what it is about the American political system that is truly and deeply important. There are lessons to be learned from the past and we can look to the past residents of the Executive Mansion for guidance. Consider that in the more than 200 years that we have been a nation there have been five presidents who have had beards (Abraham Lincoln, though he cut corners and lost the moustache; Ulysses S. Grant; Rutherford B. Hayes; James A. Garfield and Benjamin Harrison). There have been four presidents who had moustaches but no beards (Chester A. Arthur; Grover Cleveland; Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft). Seven presidents had long hair: (George Washington; John Adams; Thomas Jefferson; James Madison; Andrew Jackson; Martin Van Buren and James K. Polk). There were 12 follicularly challenged presidents: John Adams, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren (pictured, or is it Larry from The Three Stooges?), James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, James A. Garfield, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Have a good day and good luck with the hanging chads.