Pay attention to the silly season

"Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it." — Mark Twain Well, folks, I'd rather be writing about the Lions — that awesome, hopeful, hype-ridden team that just bested the defending Super Bowl champs. I've been a diehard Lions fans since watching them Thanksgiving Day while bobbing up and down on my grandfather's knee. And, for too many long, cursed years, they've disappointed me and the rest of Michigan with good starts that crumble into devastating losing seasons and hopes dashed against those silver and Honolulu blue helmets. But the wizards in the press boxes say this could be the year they at least make the playoffs and maybe even win a playoff game, something they haven't done since I was 6 years old. And I'd love to talk about those hopes, because doing that would fill me with joy and optimism. But I can't talk about the Lions, because there's too much going on in Washington and elsewhere that just can't be ignored. And, though it fills me with what Hunter S. Thompson called fear and loathing, I feel the need to address it. Let's break it all down. The United Auto Workers just went on strike against the Detroit three automakers, likely sending negative ripple effects throughout the economy. Republicans who control the U.S. House just launched impeachment inquiries into President Joe Biden's business dealings with the president's son, Hunter, who was just indicted on gun charges after a plea deal fell apart this summer that would've made those charges unnecessary. While they're busy with the impeachment inquiry, Congress also must pass spending bills before the end of the month to avoid a government shutdown, but even traditionally nonpartisan, uncontroversial spending bills have gotten tangled up in politics and stalled. Meanwhile, the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump are proceeding even as the 2024 presidential race kicks into high gear and Trump maintains a commanding lead over his Republican rivals and polls dead even with Biden. It's the silly season out there, folks, and it's time to start paying attention, if you're not already. In Detroit, the UAW wants a 36% wage increase over four years, but GM and Ford each offered 20% and Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, offered 17.5%. In Washington, the Republicans have yet to turn up any hard evidence linking Joe Biden to Hunter Biden's business dealings, but the Republicans say the Justice Department has failed to provide the information they need to determine if there is a link. The formal impeachment inquiry — led by the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees — gives the Republicans more power to force cooperation. Biden and the Democrats decried the inquiry as pure politics. Trump, meanwhile, faces a total of 91 criminal charges in four cases around the country related to allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election results, mishandling classified documents, and manipulating business records to cover up hush money paid to a pornography actress with whom he had an affair. Trump has pleaded not guilty in all of the cases, calling the prosecutions by Biden's Justice Department and Democratic state prosecutors nothing more than "election interference" that aims to unseat him from the Republican nomination he apparently has locked up. Despite Trump's dominance, the Republicans trying to unseat him are bouncing around the country doing their best to knock him down without alienating Trump's base, which they'd need to get the nomination, themselves. Biden, too, has begun the parade of campaign stops, trying to sell the nation on what he calls Bidenomics but which most consumers seem to call high prices. And a funny thing is happening in the polls. Trump and Biden both have solid leads for their respective nominations and are polling about even in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup at the same time solid majorities say in polls they don't want a Biden-Trump rematch. For the umpteenth time, American voters will likely have to choose between the lesser of two evils. That and so much else — the stress of it all, the complications of the many moving parts, the unlikeable characters — make it easy to just want to tune out, pop on the Lions game and imagine it's not happening. But so much is at stake. The outcome of the UAW strike, the outcome of the impeachment inquiry, whether or not Congress reaches spending deals, whether Trump gets convicted, and who rises to the top in 2024 all will have a drastic impact on the future of this nation and the world. So watch the Lions, veg out for a few hours (I will), but then pick up a newspaper and tune back in, because it all matters gravely. Hinkley is publisher/editor of The Alpena (Michigan) News.