Opinion: Regular happenings not a surprise

Many situations come around on a regular basis. Christmas, summer heat, days of blowing dirt, utility bills, and election seasons with their political schemers all come back time after time like clockwork. Expect them.

I don’t understand the people who seem genuinely surprised every time one of these regularly occurring events crops up again.

Do they have no long-term memory?

These are the people who are scrambling around in a panic when one of these things is happening tomorrow. They are frequently also the people who try to blame someone else for their lack of proper planning.

“How dare you close your store early on Christmas Eve! Now where will I buy everything I put off until the last moment?” It’s as if they’ve rehearsed this chorus.

The weather apparently surprises people constantly, too. Who expects it to get miserably hot in the summer, bone-chillingly cold in the winter, and periodically windy at any point on the calendar here on the High Plains? Well, I do and I hope you also do. When you use more utilities to stay comfortable through whatever the weather throws at you, the higher bills shouldn’t be a shock. You knew you were using energy.

Politicians and the drama that comes with them are just as predictable as the above. They will keep coming around as long as people put up with it. They will continue to do what politicians have been doing since roving bands of marauders first decided to put down roots and pose as protectors of the populations they had previously raided on an irregular basis: the birth of the career politician.

It is probably a good thing for politicians that most of the public has a short memory. I doubt anyone would still play their rigged political game otherwise.

A newer recurring theme is the opposing side trying to find ways to “get” or prosecute the most recent president from the other team, whoever it may be.

One potential positive result from this could be discouraging anyone from seeking the presidency. Who would invite this kind of persecution? If Joe Biden survives his term in office, do you think he and his supporters will act surprised when the ritual they helped perpetuate is used against him?

When something happens regularly, good or bad, and nothing changes to disrupt the pattern, don’t be surprised when it keeps happening. Be ready and expect it.

Farwell’s Kent McManigal champions liberty. Contact him at:

[email protected]