A Humble Skater's Political Rant

Today is the day after the mid-term elections in 2026. I woke up at 4:30AM, and I'm fairly certain it has nothing to do with nervousness for the state of our government, but rather the coffee I drank at 5PM yesterday when I was getting off work...

I haven't had a lot of faith in politics to change much over the years, and so I typically don't put my faith in politicians. As a result, I try not to get terribly worked up over what is happening in our government, though I do try to stay informed. However, when I have taken a deep dive into the information these past few years, I have to admit it does cause me concern. What I have come to realize only recently is that, in politics, as in all things, we need balance. And these past several years, I think we have been out of balance.

An excerpt from my book, All Roads Lead to Dockweiler. This is about as political as I get...

Ask any skater and he or she will tell you that balance is crucial. Just riding on one foot while doing a tiny one-legged squat to maintain forward motion (or the "kick-push" motion) is pretty difficult in itself; and that's just pushing! In fact, I would say learning balance and how to fall are two of the biggest benefits from skateboarding, which come in handy particularly as you age. (They say the most dangerous thing that can happen when you get old is to fall, so let's all go out and learn to skateboard at least a little, just so we can live that much longer!)

What's this have to do with politics? As I mentioned, I feel that for these past couple of years we've been out of balance (maybe longer, but it's felt more acute this cycle). The results are everywhere, so I don't need to get into the details, but just look around and see what too much of one influence will get you. All yin and no yang (I think there are deeper philosophical meanings to yin and yang, by the way, but I'll use it as a surface-level illustration here).

This one took a lot of balance!

Growing up, I always thought that if one group that represented the "correct" ideals could just win, our country would thrive. But we've seen what happens when one side gets all the control, and I don't think it's best for everyone, even the majority; and naturally so, as our country is made up of all sorts of people with all sorts of needs. And this has brought me to the realization that we need to have balance in our government, just as in everything else. 

So I woke up this morning to find a total swing of power from right to left. I think a lot of people were thinking the way I did about our balance situation, and so I guess this is the result. However, now I fear that, just like the pendulum we are as human society, we will swing too far the other way. That seems to be the way things have always gone, as far as I can tell: just a pendulum from liberal to conservative in all walks of life for the past hundred years or so (and maybe longer). The older I get, the more I see a need to just rest in the center -- balanced and valuing the benefits, but avoiding the detriments, of both sides -- though I'm not sure we'll ever get there, to be honest.

I'll leave you with something our pastor said last Sunday: no political party fully embodies the teachings of Jesus -- just look at the political spectrum of the disciples He chose! Some might say one party does, and even if one held many of Jesus' attributes, it just can't be the full representation of such a big God! The Kingdom of God is too wide and complex, dichotomous and inclusive, contrasting and all-encompassing -- all at the same time -- for one set of ideals to capture it fully. 

And so, as a humble skater with a tiny voice and a little opinion, hopefully we can all at least agree that life takes balance, and we should strive for such, in politics and everything else.