My paternal grandmother always had a strange impact on plants. Garden plants. Flowers. You name it.

She could basically stick her finger in the dirt, and the thing would grow. If she threw leaves in a jar of water in the window, they would sprout roots.

Though her house...+

+... was always a little messy, and she never had furnishings that were too high or expensive, everywhere you looked, the plants were lavish—piling in celebratory mounds.

When I first started trying to grow things three decades ago, I made so many mistakes. I overwatered and +

+ overtended, or I dumped vulnerable plants in unfavorable soil where they had no real shot of winning the game of life.

As my plants mildewed, withered, and died, I grieved not having my grandmother’s green thumb.

But as the years have passed, I’ve spent a lot of time+

+ thinking about her posture toward growing things. I mulled over why what seemed like carelessness worked so well for her.

Here’s what I have learned.

She had the perfect balance of nurture and trust for gardening.

She didn’t over fuss or over control—she respected a +

+ growing thing enough to see what it wanted to do.

She didn’t let the light be too harsh or too weak, just enough to impart strength.

She didn’t let the soil be too damp but let it be just soft enough that roots had a little resistance before finding the water they want. +

+ She made sure pests were kept at bay while the thing fought its own small way to growth.

She offered the best environment possible for a little growing stalk—then she backed off and allowed it to follow its own impulse to live.

As I’m getting closer to 50, I’m noticing+

+ that plants are responding differently to me. More often these days, I stick a stem in the glass and it grows roots. More often, I create a pot of good soil, and a found nub of life takes off growing.

This is one of the very best gifts of being older.

And you know, lately,+

+ I keep thinking about how much I long for an America that works like this.

A government that isn’t chaotic or overbearing.

A government that is quietly aware of what will produce long term growth and doesn’t waste energy chest beating or stirring up vitriol.+

+ A government that focuses most of its resources on fertilizing, tilling, and prepping conditions for in which various citizen groups will flourish.

A government that creates the best conditions for citizen growth to happen, wards off pests, trusts the people to find life,+

+ and backs off.

I don’t see that in either party these days.

I see powerful forces in both the Republican and Democratic powerhouses attempting to steamroll the common man to achieve the benefit of the elite.+

+ I see government using people, not creating good soil for them. And as a result, I see a lot of us withering out of lack.