Masks, money, and mayhem: A tale of two seasons

We have just lived through the frenzy of two cultural phenomena, both lasting way too long: the seasons of Halloween and midterm elections. In the olden days of my youth, Halloween was a day, not a season. At some point Halloween exploded into a major holiday extravaganza, rivaling Christmas…at least it has in Ely. Lawns are full of commercial blow-up pumpkins and creatures of all species, including giant self-inflating goblins and witches writhing around and emitting scary moans and dire threats. The price tags are pretty scary, too. Skeletons of all shapes and sizes, from human to canine and feline, scamper across lawns, and you can buy a six-piece band of metal skeleton musicians online for $370 at 50-percent off. LED strings of lights, meteor showers, and solar-powered everything cast an eerie glow to the neighborhoods. One of my favorite houses had a very creative spider web spanning the front of the house from the second-story roof to the ground, housing a five-foot spider.

The stunning amounts of money spent is something Halloween and elections have in common. It is estimated that $11.9 billion have been spent on the campaigns this year, nearly triple the amount spent 10 years ago. Elon Musk spent an estimated $445 million all by himself to get Republicans elected (or purchased). As the majority of us cheered, I’m sure he wallowed in disappointment as he watched the Democrats flip five Republican governorships in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, and his own state of Texas, giving the party control of a majority of the nation’s governor’s offices for the first time in 16 years. Additionally,  Democrats gained at six trifectas (governor/state senate and house), Musk also plowed $168 million into Ken Paxton’s losing bid for the Senate, which just goes to show you that money can’t buy everything, even though Elon and his ilk keep trying. Indeed, what may turn out to be the most expensive legislative campaign in Minnesota history is right here in our backyard with $2.15 million spent on the state senate contest between Grant Hauschild and Andrea Zupancich. Hauschild won despite the $1.7 million of outside PAC money spent to defeat him in the fight for control of the Minnesota legislature.

For some more spooky figures, according to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent a record-breaking $13.5 billion on Halloween this year in the following categories:  Costumes: $2 billion on adult costumes, $1.5 billion on children’s costumes, and $0.92 billion on pet costumes. Pet costumes! Decorating: $4.3 billion. Candy: $4.1 billion. Greeting cards: $0.8 billion. 

Since there are 349.6 million people in the U.S., that averages out to every person spending $38. Since I didn’t buy any costume, lights, lawn decorations, or candy (since nobody comes trick or treating on my street), I still have my $38, as do many people I know, which means some people are spending a LOT more than their $38. And that’s just this year! Don’t people save this stuff to use again?

Numbers this big just seem like funny money in my brain, but please do notice that $1.6 billion MORE was spent on Halloween than on all of the campaigns in the country. We live in a very odd place.

Big spending isn’t the only similarity between these two overlapping happenings. For example, there are people going door-to-door, expecting the occupants to open their doors to complete strangers. Some are wearing masks, looking for a handout; others are trying to give you something, but all are wanting your attention and interrupting your Netflix viewing.

Some look like vampires, clowns, astronauts, elephants, or ballerinas, when there isn’t even a circus in town. The others aren’t in costumes, but are trying hard to look harmless and interested, like someone you’d want to talk to.

All those arrayed in a variety of alter egos are treated as perfectly normal, and even amusing, yet the people who are dressed like normal neighbors, bringing information about candidates you don’t support, might be treated as if they are the devil incarnate. Perhaps dressed as the devil, they’d be welcome. Hmmmm. Maybe next election I’ll try door knocking in costume and hand out candy to anyone who opens the door.

At any other time of the year, if some stranger came to your door carrying bags and wearing a mask and odd clothes that cover up their hands, you would probably hide in the pantry or sneak out the back door and call the police. What you would not do is open the front door, ready to chat.

Other odd behaviors happen all over town. as normally reserved Minnesotans release their inner extroverts, safely hidden behind masks. On some streets you’ll see people of all ages and apparel standing around fires in their yards, welcoming everyone happening by to come get warm and have a hot drink and a treat. Others load up their trunks with their share of that $4.1 billion in candy purchases and go to the city park to give it all away. Businesses stay open late just to pass out treats, and community-wide parties are held to distribute more, you guessed it, sugar.

Some health-conscious friends of mine in Iowa, who are avid gardeners, have 500 trick-or-treaters come to their house, and it bugged them to spend so much money on sugar. Last year they gave kids a choice of marigold seeds or a piece of candy, and more kids chose the seeds. Encouraged by the results, this year they planted 40 feet of garlic and offered the choice of a marigold flower or garlic for planting or warding off vampires. With few exceptions, the kids appreciated the creative surprises.

Halloween gives people permission to act out in ways they don’t usually, and that appears to be happening with our citizenry around the elections, too. Some stand on street corners holding signs with all kinds of messages, broadcasting their opinions and pleas. That is not regarded as odd behavior, but rather an expression of the right to free speech as delineated in the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Many passing motorists cheer, wave, and honk in support as they go by, behavior usually reserved for the local winning sports team’s bus. A very few other people react quite differently to signs like PEACE, PRACTICE KINDNESS, JUSTICE FOR ALL, and VOTING MATTERS by shouting, flipping the bird, or vrooming their engines. I’ve never quite understood this behavior, as it’s such a waste of gas and tire tread, bringing to mind little boys vroom-vrooming with their toy trucks, but I guess it’s their version of freedom of speech.

So, now that we’ve mastered how to entrench ourselves in well-defined camps, scowling across the divide, while spending ridiculous amounts of money on disparate spirits rising from the political arena and the graveyard, perhaps we can focus on reaching deep within to find our better selves, acknowledge we’re mostly decent human beings who want the same basic things, and figure out how to fund essentials like health care, housing, and heating oil.