...I'm jiggy wit' it.
Moving out several generations ahead of my parents, grands and greats, I have had no problem embracing whatever developments, mechanical, cultural and/or social, have come along, along the way.
I didn't weep and wail bitterly at the demise of my dependable, ga-gunkin eight track tape player when cassette took over.
I was just fine with the arrival of DVD to replace the interminable wait of thirty to sixty seconds of rewinding the VHS.
And I am just fine with food deliciously radiated in the nuclear atmosphere of my microwave.
Truth told, though, there is one little accomplishment in the evolution I could live without.
The opinion poll.
The advance of communicative devices, combined with the ability to turn the information into media spewable data in a New York sixty, has created an atmosphere in which we can be told, almost minute by minute, who's on first.
And who's, or what's, on second.
Theoretically, this is a good thing.
Actually, not so much.
Primarily because it mutates the long ago crafted axiom, "as Maine goes, so goes the nation...".
And while, ostensibly, the goal is to provide us (the well known and oft quoted "American people") with the latest "status" of one political candidate or another, what it really does, I feel sure, is inform some...
...while influencing others.
One long spoken complaint about media projections of winners on Election night has been that, for example, if the folks in California are still voting at their still open polling place while the media projects a winner in New York where the polling place has closed, the overall vote can be influenced by said projection.
The folks in L.A who hear "and we project Ferd Burfurd the winner in New York (and throw in any other state in the Eastern time zone)" might easily have a WTF/what's the use" attitude about bothering to cast any swine stifling pearls.
I think that notion is entirely plausible.
But it's no longer just an Election Day affliction.
The latest "polls" have the Republican nomination process reading like a non-equine run at Churchill Downs.
"Cain regains the lead...coming up the back stretch, it's Romney....while Perry is moving inside and gaining...it's Perry...it's Romney...it's Cain....it's Romney..."
As singer and noted political consultant, George Jones, would say...
"the race is on and here come's pride up the backstretch..."
And Election Day is still an entire year away.
Here's the thing about the polling as regards the polls.
Support for one candidate, or another, ends up being less about a legitimate effort on the part of the average voter (again, one of the much revered and oft misquoted "American people)to study and judge, for themselves, the merits or de, as the case may be, of one candidate versus another and more about that voter going the way the prevailing winds are blowing.
"Well," Mr and/or Mrs. God fearing, good hearted, but essentially politically unsophisticated Everyday American could be saying, "we were thinkin' about voting for Perry, but it looks like Romney is the winner, so..."
Ultimately, the insidious down side is that we end with office holders who are chosen less in the spirit of Washington, Jefferson and Adams...
...and more in the spirit of Michael Jackson.
Starting with its release, in the early 1980's, Michael's seminal album "Thriller" has racked up enough sales to qualify it as the best selling album of all time.
100 million, give or take.
Due respect to the talent involved, though, I think a reasonable case could be made that some percentage of that number, let's say, for the sake of discussion, twenty percent, came from folks who were simply going with the flow.
In other words, eighty million people totally got into, and bought a copy of, Thriller.
And twenty million people bought a copy of Thriller because eighty million people bought one.
Given that perspective, it's not unreasonable to see where the whole process of choosing those who will lead us can go awry.
Admittedly, there's nothing new about some folks doing what they do for no other reason than other people are doing it.
If everyone was as smart and savvy as you and me, the world would be a tedious place to hang out.
At the same time, the technology that now feeds the masses the latest "standings" on a near minute by minute basis may intend to use its powers for good, but, at best, ain't doing us any favors.
Because the choosing of high office holders should be, ideally, the result of individual reflection, consideration and determination.
And not the result of hearing the "daily special" and saying, "I'll have what she's having."
Elections, at their heart, were never meant to come equipped with foregone conclusions.
They should be thrillers.
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