It's no surprise that what we call absolutely right usually lines up with our religion, politics and perceived social status. My brother used to say that if people did things his way, the world would be a better place. ...Maybe so. But I kind of doubt. While waiting for our trust funds to kick in, we irritated the hell out of each other over religion, politics and who was better looking. He liked to say that when a Republican was elected president, it was God's will. As compared to a Democrat which was the people getting what they deserved. Notably, this is a little different from what the Apostle Paul said about all authority being appointed by God. But Paul also said women should be silent in the churches which all too often is held above the Golden Rule. Our world can be quite ugly at times, but it can also agree on a bare minimum of essential values, guiding principles and shared beliefs so that it doesn't fall into total chaos. Even if there are those who thrive under madness, most prefer a more ordered existence. ...But enough about Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.
Today, Americans are radically divided facing an election of fantastic claims and bitter consequences. I can't wait to see whom God anoints. But no matter who wins the coin toss, we'll still be a deeply divided nation with guns and ammo. Be sure to stock up now. Several ever deepening, but mostly ignored, fault lines have ironically become more exposed by this perfect storm of man and nature. Some, based on evolving beliefs and wishful nursery rhymes, hold to a mystical magical view of reality despite any contradictory evidence. Scientists aren't always right. In fact, they can radically disagree. But when their understanding is PROVEN wrong, they don't continue to hang onto what is false. Yet, we have those who without any scientific background boldly declaring what is true (John MacArthur et al) based on the absolute views and theories that they zealously hold. Claiming to be right might feel good; claiming others to be wrong might feel even better. This seems to be the great American pastime. The thing is, we didn't get here overnight. It's probably been around longer than baseball.
My own personal view is that we've come to this questioning the experts by way of the congressional quagmire that has been Washington's favorite patriot game to play while they are stuffing their pockets and making sure their rich donors don't suffer too much. If the officials had been doing the work of the people instead of worrying about getting re-elected, they would have corrected the unfairness in the tax laws, set reasonable term limits, made sure that one senator can't hold up what the majority believe is good law, made uniform federal elections, enacted stronger anti-nepotism laws and worked on ALL the other changes that would improve our country and insure that it couldn't be dismantled or lose it's balance of powers. A question I would like to ask any official is, "Are you working for a better world, for your own world or for the end of the world?"
There can be vigorous and even heated debate as to what and how to improve living under law. Hence, compromise will happen and tolerance will be learned. But now we're laboring under extremes who will not compromise nor recognize the equal rights of all including the right to exist as citizens in their own country. We're in a very "my way or the highway" kind of place or at least a "demonize the opposition without any facts" kind of place. Someone had the ideal solution. We would divide the No Longer United States into RED, BLUE and PURPLE countries. I guess that would be similar to The Handmaid's Tale but without the bodies hanging on the wall to serve as reminders.
A line from the old song What It's Worth By Buffalo Springfield states "Nobody is right if everybody's wrong." If you have two radical groups that won't even consider compromise and further sees the opposition as evil, it's difficult to get anything done. I'm not voting on who's right and who's wrong. It might be a hundred years before we know that. For now, I voting for what is practical which is a compromise of some sort if all are presented. After the election, the losing party is not going away. They still will be your neighbors and you'll still be theirs. The only solution is one part having power over the other part which can change with another election. This isn't playing politics, it's a Ship of Fools.
I suspect many will watch tonight's debate and likely all the other scheduled debates. Interestingly, polls show that most have already made up their minds, but I think that was before the disclosure of Trump's generous tax contributions. ...So who knows? But given our recent history, I predict that the impact will be minimal. My only other question is, "Why will we watching two old white guys with speech and memory impediments duke it out?" I suspect that some of it is the spectacle of it all and the post debate claims by both sides that their guy won. To be fair, what else can they do. Although, if either admitted to really stinking up the stage, they certainly would get my vote.
