Kendall Stanley: Normal? Sorry, not the GOP

The Republican Party’s response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address recently was provided by newly installed Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders who tried to make the case that America is facing an existential question — do we want the government to be normal or crazy.

Normal being following the enlightened leadership of the Republicans and anything the Democrats would do is certainly crazy.

Sanders tossed out a load of right-wing cultural issues that, while getting the MAGA base all excited, have done little to boost votes for the Grand Old Party at the general election polls.

State of the Union responses tend not to be kind to those who give them, although Sanders is good at moving things along from her days as the former guy’s press secretary. We remember those years as press conferences where Sanders played fast and loose with the facts.

At the State of the Union itself, President Biden suggested that America is rebounding from the pandemic and inflation and that things will be better still when several of his initiatives kick in.

While Democrats have been accused of overlooking rural America, Biden took note of the jobs and businesses that have drained many communities — communities he feels will start to come back as manufacturing and other businesses start to grow.

And he made clear that Republicans’ fever dream of cutting back Social Security and Medicare would never get past his desk.

Biden gave a strong speech, and if one were looking to see a doddering 80-year-old they would have been disappointed.

Even in the face of plenty of boos and attempted interruptions by the crazy fringe of the GOP he kept moving forward. One must remember that Biden has been around the block a few times in Washington and it would be hard to throw him completely off track.

We’ll just have to stay tuned as the year progresses.

Weather balloon? Please

China’s suggestion that a giant balloon that floated across the U.S. was a weather balloon was certainly laughable but it did prompt at least one concern — balloons of that nature are difficult to spot because of their size and slow motion.

Biden has been criticized for not knocking the balloon down earlier, but it seems reasonable to wait for it to be in place to be safely shot down in a place where the equipment aboard can be recovered.

The fact that the balloon was followed by U.S. aircraft that was intercepting the information being sent back to China is even more assuring.

Apparently China has been sending balloons aloft for years — there were three that entered the U.S. during Trump’s administration and one was flying over Latin America while the one was floating overhead here.

Hard to say how this will turn out diplomatically but there’s one thing for sure you can count on — if you don’t think we’re spying on China from above, you’re kidding yourself.

Two who meant much to their communities

Harbor Springs and Petoskey lost men recently who were involved in their communities in so many, many ways.

Wayne Chellis, 92, served as Harbor Springs’ postmaster for years and in Petoskey Dick Seguin, 95, headed up Michigan Consolidated Gas Co.’s office and its effort to bring natural gas to the area.

They were both soft spoken and had smiles that lit up the room.

The list of organizations the two were involved in is impressive.

Wayne was a 4-H Leader, coached Little League, served on the West Traverse Twp. Board, the Emmet Ambulance Board, Allied EMS Board, and the Harbor Springs School Board, where he also served as the President. He loved the outdoors and enjoyed hunting, fishing, camping, traveling and building.

During his time in Petoskey, Dick was deeply involved in the community organizing, volunteering, and leading many organizations, clubs and boards. These included the Salvation Army, the Petoskey Parks & Recreation board, the Kiwanis club, the Petoskey Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Boundary Commission, the Save our Bay organization, the Petoskey-Bay View Country Club, the Petoskey Outboard Cruising Club, and the Northern Michigan Hospital board of directors. He was always in tune with what was going on in Petoskey through the comradery of several coffee groups at local spots. Having lived in the same home for nearly 50 years, he was affectionately known as the “Mayor of Hill Street.” Fourth of July parades there will never be the same.

Like Wayne, Dick loved hunting and fishing and telling tall fishing tales.

Our two communities owe a debt of gratitude to Wayne and Dick for all of their work over the years to make this a better place to live.

— Kendall P. Stanley is retired editor of the News-Review. He can be contacted at kendallstanley@charter.net. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and not necessarily of the Petoskey News-Review or its employees.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Kendall Stanley: Normal? Sorry, not the GOP