Otsego County New York: A Microcosm of America 2016

Otsego County New York: A Microcosm of America 2016

By Michael T. Gregory

During my annual pilgrimage to Otsego County, I discovered the Soccer Hall of Fame was closed. Oneonta struggles to have jobs that are more than minimum wage, the trains roll right through town and the Oneonta Outlaws play baseball in a city that loves the game. As I drove north, I notice all the youth ball parks and enter Cooperstown where the village is a thriving Mecca of America’s pastime. It dawned on me that Soccer may be a global game, perhaps a game for the so-called ‘new world order’, but it is America’s game that thrives in Otsego County.

I also couldn’t help but notice this is a reflection of America today. There are two paths our nation could take. One path is a road to becoming a global partner, whereby the greatest country on earth is marginalized in mediocrity. It’s “wealth redistributed” for an illusion of greater good. A path to the new world order that our current administration won’t acknowledge, but seems to be directing us to. You need look no further than spending our children’s wealth in “conflicts of choice” like Libya and Syria. Conflicts the people do not choose, yet Washington pays for with money we don’t have. This path I equate as soccer. A global path that would see us weakened and marginalized for a game we really have no desire to play. There is nothing wrong with American games (insert ‘innovation’, aspiration, dreams, insert your own metaphor).

The second path is a road we’ve traveled. It is where we’ve been. It has always proven successful. It is a path Otsego County knows well. It is the path of baseball. America’s game is a game where the individual has the opportunity and only seeks a chance. It is a game of dreams and prosperity and rich history that our country is known for. It may be an old game, but it is time proven and it is what America thrives on.

Otsego County is the ultimate reflection of these two paths. One path, unproven, global and equality driven, where ‘share the wealth’ is not just a campaign slogan anymore, but a way of life that is being forced upon America by politicians and authoritarian leadership.

The second path is the known road. A way that history shows us works. It is the way of rugged individualism, opportunity and vision. A way of success. Otsego County shows the path of success lies in proven ways of the past. A vision that epitomizes the reality of the American dream not just in our pastime, but our way of life.

I see the success of baseball almost everywhere in Otsego County. It is the success of vision and dreams of what can be. Soccer is cool game. But you have to admit, it’s a global game. The globe doesn’t get baseball. Washington politicians don’t get baseball. They want America to play soccer. They want global engagement. Calling kinetic actions something other than War, bailing out foreign banks while American’s are unemployed and selling out our friends to ‘new world order’ upstarts such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Russian uranium businesses and Chinese mining companies is not just the wrong way to go. It is un-American.

America gets baseball. Otsego County gets baseball. The fact the National Soccer Hall of Fame is gone is a mere indicator the country needs change. We need American jobs and we need business development right here in America. Not Beijing or Mexico or Persia. We should move away from even considering global games, to doing what America does best. Play baseball.

This November, America may need to go to the past to save its future. A Reaganesque future of smaller government and competent, honest, law abiding leadership. No more speeches. No more slogans. No more foreign bailouts. We need job opportunity for the little people, not just in Red States, but Red Counties and Blue cities.

We owe it to our kids and their kids to play baseball. Much more support to global games of choice by this administration and we won’t just be speaking Spanish or being forced to read a Koran, we may have to go to Canada for baseball.

At least with a republican government, we might have a chance to play.

Michael T. Gregory is a fiction novelist living in San Antonio, TX. He was born at Fox Hospital in Oneonta, NY.

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