Time to sharpen the ax

I first heard this story in Hoop dreams by Phil Jackson. The story is of 2 woodsmen who are having a competition on who could chop the most. Peter and John were the characters' names. As they started the competition Peter would take a 15 minute break where John couldn’t see him. John was the physically bigger man and thought he could push his way through as Peter stopped chopping. At the end of the day they compared their chops and Peter won. Confused John asked Peter “what were you doing when you took those breaks, I never stopped working and yet you won”. Peter softly said, “John, I had to sharpen my ax”. John looked at his ax and it was dull and less effective.

This is exactly what has happened in our presidential race. The MAGA movement was beginning to trend mainstream due to indictments on Trump, assassination attempt and overall message of the American way of life being impacted since the 2020 election. It all culminated at the RNC Convention which was the most diverse I’ve ever seen a republican convention event in my short time being involved. Black and Asian people were out 2/3 times more than usual with a similar message of Americans first. Union members also were high in attendance as a shift in the thoughts of right to work are being questioned by the new RNC leadership as faulty. It was high energy and a VERY positive message of “lets come together”!

Democrats on the other hand seemed fractured. Biden's struggles during the debate exposed his declining health while continued disputes between him and the base over the war in GAZA was taking its toll. At that moment I believe the Dems decided to “sharpen their ax”. They stepped back and evaluated their position and began to strategize how they would shake things up. They quietly held meetings that were leaked eventually (mostly because they allowed it is my guess) and looked to their grass roots base organizations like DSA to inform them how they planned to pivot. Joe finally caved in and drafted the narrative of the “aging hero who knows when to walk away” while handing his torch to a younger woman. Then they went to work on chopping…

It's our turn to “sharpen the ax” but instead it feels like we are John who “just wants to push through OR keep fighting”. This is a mistake. We have the higher ground on what causes current American family's anxiety. Cost of goods (check) Out of control immigration (check) Uptick in car jackings, robberies and overall safety (check) Economy and the decrease of manufacturing in this country that will energize the union vote (check). Instead, we are on the trail taking cheap shots at our opponents in a poor attempt to galvanize independent voters' rage. Now is the time to allow the Dems to have the floor, answer for their policy choices over the last 4 years and how it impacted our society. Right now, they only need to point to our petty attacks as an example of why they should continue to be given the chance to govern.

Trump is still the favorite but only the naive would say Harris hasn’t ignited their base energy which is starting to show up in conversations at the grocery stores, gas stations, bars and restaurants. Time for the GOP to take a time out and shift their message away from petty attacks to what they plan to offer people who are dealing with this daily anxiety of how they will make ends meet…