America’s Reckoning
As a blue tsunami rolls across the nation, MARY BONELLI ASHWORTH shows the Republic, Democracy, and the parties of “us and them” to the American kitchen table.
By Mary Bonelli Ashworth8 November 2026
Our kitchen table was the setting. I started early, age six or so, listening to my parents debate politics as well as a smorgasbord of other things. Mom was a diminutive Democrat, brilliant and so astute in the psychology of listening and soft assertiveness. Dad was a rancher who was nicknamed Shake for his love of great literature and love of the great works of Shakespeare. Republican to the core, Dad was infuriated by the New Deal of Roosevelt, naming him Red Rosie. Older than Mom by 13 years, Dad was completely captivated by a woman with sometimes opposing opinions and ideas, especially because she was in love with him.
Midterm elections have produced a predictable parade of parody and profundity from the media. In perspective, FDR lost 72 House seats, Obama 63 seats, Truman 56 seats, Clinton 54 seats, Eisenhower 48 seats, LBJ 47 seats and Trump 41. So, losing House and Senate seats is cyclical, like wildfires and typhoons. There is always a time of discombobulation and reset, but the resilience of the American people and their basic sense of fair play move us ahead. Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., elected democratic socialist mayors, joining New York City and Seattle. Texas has elected the first Hispanic woman governor to hold the office in the state’s history, and the first Democrat to be elected governor in 36 years. Florida, the third most populous state in the Union, elected its first Black governor, Republican Byron Donalds.
When I was young, non-family members told me the two subjects that should never be discussed in polite company were religion and politics. Even now, as an octogenarian, I feel that those are the two things that must be discussed. An evening spent with family, friends, and new acquaintances (at private, not public, gatherings) while sharing differing points of view proved far more interesting than the local movie. All opinions were welcomed. In that setting, ideas were often presented in story form, allowing the younger participants to experience the aha moment on their own, not by some didactic form of insistence from an adult. “Good thinking” was an often-heard phrase of encouragement.
Three billion a day for interest on a loan is reprehensible, not to mention unsustainable.
Americans believe in fair play, and today, with occasional candor almost venomous in nature, they speak of the $3,000,000,000 interest payment daily on the national debt. I’m sorry, but I did the family budget and primitive accounting, so named because my husband majored in accounting and got a master’s degree in tax law. In his heart he wanted to pursue dentistry, not endless numbers in columns on green paper. That is why I inherited the job, blithely using music paper lined with the grand staff. Primitive indeed. If the results were doleful, I could compose a few morose measures in C-sharp minor, and on better financial days write a quick song of gratitude in the key of G major for unnumbered blessings. After all my work on accounting, Don skipped dentistry and became an attorney, although he had no penchant for conflict.
As we raised our seven children, it was essential to be factoring in Scout trips, dancing lessons, prom dresses, basketball uniforms, braces, choir trips, medical bills for eye surgeries and broken arms and ankles, flute lessons, college tuition for our seven scholars, missions and summer water-skiing trips to Lake Mead close by. The budget had to be balanced, and our nation’s budget must be too, because three billion a day for interest on a loan is reprehensible, not to mention unsustainable.
But I remain an optimist. In the past, Americans have made experimental trips into non-constitutional paths and have returned sorely disappointed. Then they adjusted the trajectory, making the needed changes, and applied the new knowledge for their benefit. Emblazoned on the wall in my workroom was the Zen saying: “After enlightenment there is still the laundry.”
What is happening at our kitchen tables?
They’ve been called the cornerstones: the crossroads of communication, language and compassionate care that evolved into the cradle of civilization. At the very epicenter of thought, learning and change, I listened in to both sides of the argument and learned how to debate disparities and discuss solutions, all while laying the table, clearing plates, and washing and drying to a sparkling shine. Ronald Reagan said in his farewell address, “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.” And no matter where life takes us, the kitchen table is where we all return.