After the plane soared, loudly, overhead, on the first day of the New Year — a year with all those twos in its ‘2022’ — I was thinking about the many ‘number twos’ in another number.
The number 120,220.
That was the total number of aircraft noise and safety complaints that had been filed, as of that particular moment in time, a few minutes past seven, that holiday morning. We have a small airport near us, in northern California, where airline companies are flying passengers on powerful, multi-passenger aircraft.
Those thousands of complaints got me thinking, about the will of a considerable number of people.
Whether we’re talking about the will of the people where my family and I reside, in California, or the will of the people, where you are in Pagosa Springs and Archuleta County, or the will of the majority of folks in the USA, where we all reside… you’ve got to wonder, sometimes, if the will of the people is being fully considered.
When, for instance, your tax dollars are being spent, maybe willy-nilly… on government buildings, and offices, and such?
Speaking of the will of the people, Republican New York Rep. John Katko, “at the beginning of 2021… was adamant” about the election that had been held, the prior year, in November, according to an article in Politico. “The votes were counted,” he said. “The courts heard the arguments. Biden was the winner. Trump was the loser. And Congress had to certify the results.”
He went on to say, “It is not the role of Congress to usurp the will of the people and the Electoral College.”
According to an article in the Huffington Post, former President Jimmy Carter discussed “the right to free, fair elections, unhindered by strongman politicians who seek nothing more than to grow their own power…”
And on the first anniversary of the U.S. Capitol riot, President Biden said: “Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people?”
The will of the people sure seems to be coming up a lot, lately.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.