Mid Michigan Old Gas Tractor Association Website (MMOGTA)

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The contents of the “Weekly Feature” page are provided to you for your entertainment, amusement, and perhaps information. Here you may find articles of interest, pictures, historical information on the Club, or whatever shuffles to the top of the pile on our desk. The only defined characteristic of this space is that we will make every effort to change/replace it around the middle of each week. Thank you for visiting, and please stop by again. Click on any photo to see it larger in a separate window.

Campaign ‘08

You may have noticed that we are now fully engaged in the home stretch of yet another Presidential campaign. Certainly, all the cameras and microphones from the AV department at the MMOGTA Publishing Complex have been strategically deployed in the optimistic hope that we will be there to catch that one elusive pearl of wisdom that may emerge from the otherwise rather smelly oyster that is politics. Hope springs eternal, they say.

For one whose first conscious exposure to politics came somewhere between the Truman and Eisenhower terms, this campaign surely stands out in contrast. The Democrats made history during the primary phase as an African American and a woman vied for the nomination. The usually more conservative Republicans surprised everyone during their “convention” by selecting a very “unconventional” female governor as the VP nominee.

This will be fun to watch, as the very choices of candidates seem to take away some of the traditional ammunition that the two parties typically begin to target the other camp with. Not that either side will be disarmed, as the times we live in seem to insure plenty of cannon fodder for the arsenals of political bombardment. Falling dollars, rising gas prices, failing banks, troops in harm’s way, terrorist threats, etc., etc. Add in the fact that two of the most inexperienced candidates ever to have gotten to the final stretch of a Presidential campaign (one on each side) will have to find ways to denigrate the other while maintaining their own credibility. A delicate balance, indeed.

For those of us out here in the Heartland, who are old enough to have lived through the 50‘s-60’s civil rights turmoil, it is gratifying to see that the road to the White House is no longer barricaded by obstacles of color or gender. Regardless of which party moves into the iconic mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue, we sincerely believe that a whole generation of impressionable youngsters will come away with a new sense that this is the norm. It’s about time we got there.

Always eager to tap into the down-to-earth wisdom of the rural roots, pollsters have been in almost constant contact with the Fergus Focus Group, as they try to determine the direction of the prevailing political winds. In spite of her lack of experience on the National scene, early results seem to indicate that many can identify with the whole “Caribou Barbie” persona that Sarah Palin conveyed so well in her speech at the convention. Biden brings to the table decades of experience in Washington to help counterbalance Obama’s shorter resume. It is also felt that while McCain lacks the dramatic stage presence of Obama, his career of service to the Nation endows him with an authenticity that cannot be created or reproduced by an ad campaign. Certainly, all involved have endured enough scrutiny from the National Press and voters in the primaries to give reasonable assurance that they deserve to be considered for the positions they seek. From that point on, voters will have to listen closely for those hard to find specifics on the major issues that will have to be addressed by all eventually.

While the MMOGTA does not publicly endorse any candidate, we certainly do encourage your participation in the process. We urge you to pay attention, listen closely, and most of all, do your part on election day. Our organization has around 400 member families, that translates into about 800 different opinions, and the only wrong ones are those that are neutralized by never being expressed.

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©2007-2008 Mid Michigan Old Gas Tractor Association (MMOGTA). The contents of all materials available on this Internet site are copyrighted by Mid Michigan Old Gas Tractor Association (MMOGTA) unless otherwise indicated. All rights are reserved by Mid Michigan Old Gas Tractor Association (MMOGTA), and content may not be reproduced, downloaded, disseminated, published, or transferred in any form or by any means, except with the prior written permission of Mid Michigan Old Gas Tractor Association (MMOGTA). Any unauthorized usage on newsgroups, or other internet sites, or unauthorized reproduction, printing or sales of these images is prohibited under existing Federal Copyright laws of the United States. We will actively prosecute those that duplicate, distribute or otherwise use our images without express written authorization or release. Mid Michigan Old Gas Tractor Association (MMOGTA) maintains this website to enhance public access to information about its functions and policies in general. Our goal is to keep this information timely and accurate. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them as soon as possible. Mid Michigan Old Gas Tractor Association (MMOGTA), however, accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the material on this site.

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