RUN-UP TO AN ELECTION

Going through some of my journal entries from 1990, I came across something I wrote when Pete Wilson was the Republican candidate for governor of California. I wrote it after I had heard Wilson address the the downtown Rotary Club. I am reminded as I read it of some of the people who want to take George Bush's place in the White House.

Wilson got his indoctrination into politics at the age of 27 by serving as an advance man for Richard Nixon during the 1960 presidential campaign. He served as State Assemblyman, Mayor of San Diego, and U.S. Senator prior to becoming Governor in 1991.

BEFORE THE ELECTION

Gray heads tilted and nodded approval
as the man who wanted to be Governor
and then undoubtedly President with a big “P”
explained to Rotary Club number thirty-three
how he wanted to make the world safe
by building two hundred billion dollars worth of deadly weapons,
and by securing every citizen’s right to buy and keep automatic assault rifles,
and by building an impossible-to-scale wall along the border,
and by protecting marriage from desecration by gays and lesbians.

The old warriors seated around their lunch tables
seemed determined to help him keep the world
just as full of terror as they had found it
when they were young soldiers in Normandy and Iwo Jima.

The dove of peace has had little time for rest
during the watch of these old men for the past fifty years
and is likely to find no safe place for a nest during the next...