Port & Starboard: Salty Politics

The Boating Barrister is a monthly feature in WindCheck magazine by John K. Fulweiler, Esq. which offers tips for navigating tricky legal waterways, always with a healthy dose of wit. In the Nov/Dec 2024 edition, John offers his take on USA events off the water:

There are two things that matter in life: hope and fear. That’s what 53 years of living has taught me and I’m right as rain.

You’re a time traveler of sorts in that when you read these words, you’ll know the outcome of this 2024 presidential election and yet as I type, I don’t. I’m not here to pummel political positions because the outcome is fated, but that ‘hope and fear’ bit – that’s determinative.

On the port side, you’ve got the wanderlust of more hopeful times untethered to specifics and with a piss poor explanation as to how they’ll get from here and up and around the windward mark. Too many sea chanties and not enough navigational savvy is a fair criticism. The port side lads IMO have spent too much time hollering about the starboard side baddies and not enough time on boat speed and lay lines.

The port side rail needs a good litigator on the helm and one of those tall, lean, ethereal types squinting upwind and making confident tactical calls. Instead, it seems you’ve got the equivalent sailing skills of an Opti Green Fleet clambering to get their hands on the wheel of a T2 with assurances they know what they’re doing. To me, the port side seems earnest, but unprepared. – Full report