Winter’s here, again, just like last time

It took some time, but we finally have snow and freezing temperatures. So, winter is here. Again, just like last year.

Just like last year, people are not happy with the cold temperatures. Maybe the complaining is a little more understandable this year as December and the first few days of January had temperatures above normal.

Also, like last year, some people forgot with the cold temperatures come snow and ice on the roads. So they forgot when there’s ice on the roads, the most obvious thing is to slow down! It never seems to fail, each year some people head out expecting to be able to drive the same after snow falls.

To be honest, I’ve done it also. Back in the mid-1990s, I was living and working in Wahpeton, N.D. I had visited my family in Thief River Falls over the weekend and left Monday morning for Wahpeton. About 30 miles or so out of Wahpeton, I tried passing a car. The roads were slick, but I thought I had it under control. I didn’t. My car hit black ice or an extra slick spot, and suddenly, it was going sideways When the car hit the edge of the road. it did a 360 rollover. I was very thankful the ditches were filled to the brim with snow that year. I ended up with some bruises while my car’s biggest damage was the loss of the driver’s side rearview mirror.

From that experience, and going out to cover more than one crash due to bad weather, I’ve decided to drive slow. I wouldn’t be surprised if some believe I drive too cautiously, but I’d rather take some extra time to get to my destination.

A shorter election period

Welcome to 2024 and the ramping up of the election season. I hope I’m not the only one who believes it’s time to shorten the amount of time candidates get to campaign here in the United States. At one time, it seemed to be six months, then it went to nearly a year. With the current run for president, we had candidates start last year for the nomination of their party.

Frankly, it’s time to rethink how long candidates get to run before a caucus and how long they get to campaign for office. Taking a year or more to run for either seems like too long a period. A reason for my belief in a shorter campaign period is if a person is already in office they can spend more time doing the job they were elected to do rather than campaigning.

In other countries, there are shorter periods for campaigning, which seem to work. In Mexico, the number of days for campaigning for a national election is 147 days, in the United Kingdom it’s 139, for Canada it’s 78 days and Japan only allows 12 days.

How we change it is the big question since there are several factors. Some will argue, it’s just the way it is in the United States, while others will point out how there’s too much money being used for campaigns.

With a shorter campaign season, we wouldn’t have to listen to candidates get dirty about their opponent. At least that would be my hope, whether it would really happen is another thing