This has been a uniquely difficult campaign season. For some of us the idea of a second Trump presidency feels both bleak and catastrophic. His supporters view it differently.
I’ve been an activist since my senior year in high school when I worked on John F. Kennedy’s campaign. As the 1960s progressed the optimism expressed in JFK’S Inaugural Address was severely shaken. The decade became one of assassinations, social unrest, civil strife, and war. I didn’t think it could get worse but, since 2020, it has. Until then most of us believed that our form of government might be shaken but our ultimate faith in electoral democracy was strong enough to survive the machinations of any one man or movement.
I’m older and slower now, but still active.
So, as I anticipate a difficult Tuesday night and Wednesday, I thought I’d share some past happier campaign memories…and a recent one.
I’m mostly a Market Basket guy but, when I happen to be nearby, I get my gas and some other stuff at Costco. A few years ago, as I was filling my gas tank, a small station wagon pulled up on the other side of the pump. I noticed a “Maura Healy” sticker on its rear window. When the woman driving the car got out and walked back to the pump, I pointed to her sticker, and said, “I love Maura.”
Reaching for the pump, she smiled and said, “Me too…I’m her mother.” We both had a good laugh. Now there was a coincidence!
I am a big fan of John Tierney, our former Congressman. I worked on his first (unsuccessful) campaign in 1994 and on every succeeding one. As a Congressman his work for our 6th District and the country was excellent. I couldn’t imagine not supporting his reelection every time.
The Moulton campaign was completely unhampered by my point of view and managed to defeat him in the 2014 Democratic primary. As a result, I drove from Nahant to the corner of Eastern Avenue and Lynn Shore Drive to hold a sign for Seth Moulton the following day. He was the Democrat in the race and the differences between John and Seth were far fewer than those between Seth and Richard Tisei, the Republican candidate, a decent man but aligned with “the other side.” I took my newly acquired Moulton sign out of the backseat and headed across the street to join a small group of other sign-holding folks including an older couple holding signs similar to mine.
I should mention here that I am a compulsive commenter in The Boston Globe online using the handle “Nahant Jim,” thus maximizing my considerable influence in Eastern Massachusetts, the Commonwealth, and beyond. Too often political dialogue is more like barroom talk than thoughtful exchanges of opinions and ideas. One can make good arguments, I feel, without being argumentative but, I think it’s safe to say, in the Tierney/Moulton race I demonstrated both options. I engaged fully.
As I approached the small group of folks I didn’t know, I reached out my hand to the woman of the couple and introduced myself, “I’m Jim Walsh,” I said, “I’m from Nahant.”
Her friendly smile seemed to flatten.
“Not Nahant Jim,” she said with a mixture of astonishment, suspicion and, possibly, dread.
“Yep…that’s me.”
“Well,” she said, “I’m Seth’s mother…and this is his father.”
Yet another mother and this one knew my work.
“Well, here I am,” I said, pointing, “and here’s my sign.”
We stood there together for perhaps an hour, holding our signs, waving at passing cars, chatting with one another with some awkwardness at first, learning who we were as human beings, and, ultimately, setting aside our differences and finding common ground.
A year or so later I had organized an event at The Tides restaurant seeking donations of diapers for unsupported mothers served by Aspire Developmental Services. Lynn and Tom Moulton walked in for dinner, noticed our gathering, waved, came over and our greetings were delightfully warm. Our common ground was firm.
Finally, I will mention a more recent encounter.
A few weeks ago, I noticed that some Nahant neighbors and others were holding “Trump” signs at the Nahant Rotary on Tuesdays. The first time, exiting the Causeway, as I drove slowly by, I tapped my horn and waved. Assuming support, the response from the small group was cheers and shouts…until one of them noticed who was driving and started laughing.
I called some friends and we agreed to hold some signs supporting Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and others, on Wednesdays leading up to the election. And we did.
Last Tuesday I decided to take some pictures of our adversaries. I parked, walked across the street and did so. This time, right from the beginning, they knew exactly who it was and waved vigorously for my picture. I then crossed the road and walked right into the middle of them…and we laughed and hugged. These were not strangers. They were not enemies. In fact, many of us had worked together, closely and diligently, to protect Nahant’s natural environment in recent years. Our common ground was the sea and access to its beauty. In that special moment we could enjoy what we shared, not what divided us, knowing one was far more important than the other,
Today’s election is a challenging one. Not just because the candidates have such profoundly different personalities and points of view. One of them seems not to believe in electoral democracy, making the prospect of reconciliation feel difficult if not unreachable.
But I want to believe that we can do it. That we can use our system to continue the system that has survived since the adoption of our Constitution in 1787. Our Constitution is based on the notion that, through the electoral and legislative process, we can evolve. And we have. My deepest hope is that we can continue.
Jim Walsh lives in Nahant.
