I’m feeling a strange wind blowing across the land.
In California, this is the season of the “devil’s wind,” the Santa Anas that blow in from the desert and drive some of the epic fires that too often ravage the hillsides. But I’m thinking something else, a chilly wind that screams, ‘we’ve had enough.’
Over the years, I have felt it blowing from the left and from the right. But I can’t recall it blowing from both directions in such rapid succession.
It’s evident in the presidential candidacies of Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Bernie Sanders.
It’s evident in the passionate and organized actions that drove the University of Missouri president from office and thousands into the streets to demand a minimum wage of $15-an-hour.
It’s evident in the Tea Party agenda that’s helped tie Congress in knots and the petition effort to reverse Nevada’s commerce tax.
All things considered, we’d be better off if that chilly wind simply brought us a dusting of snow. At least we’d feel confident the sun would restore order when we woke up.
But this wind seems determined to force structural change.
It’s way too early to tell which will be the prevailing wind – from the left or from the right. There are lots of variables still to unfold and I’m a long way from being a meteorologist.
But this seems a good time for the business community to take stock of what’s really important and get involved in the political process.
We have a unique perspective here in Nevada as the presidential campaign plays out in our front yard.
Weigh the facts; listen to the rhetoric; decide which side best represents your beliefs and your interests. But don’t sit on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to decide.
We seem to come to one of these crossroads moments about every 20 years in this country and we may be nearing such a point in 2016. Historians debate about whether that’s kind of what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they set the Constitution in motion. Checks and balances. Progress by compromise or the will of the people.
But whatever changes these winds bring likely won’t disappear in the morning sunshine. For good or ill, we’ll own the results.
Make sure your voice is heard.