Stream of Consciousness Saturday – choose, but choose wisely

In one of Indiana Jones’s movies, a Knight Templar tells the person reaching for the Holy Grail to ” choose, but choose wisely.” This is good advice today, too.

Which side are you on? That question gets asked a lot these days, and evidently, nuances, shades, and alternatives are no longer allowed. It’s simple: Pick A or B.  Things have grown that polarized.

You’ve correctly assumed that I’m discussing politics. And to end the suspense, I’ve chosen to align with the Democrats and Kamala Harris. The Republican love of ruling rather than governing gets to me at a visceral level. I don’t like mob bosses.

I don’t like mob bosses from either party and as a result, I do have a history of siding with third-party candidates. But I don’t find any third-party candidates appealing, and I’ve grown weary of third parties that blow away in the wind the day after the elections and refuse to grow local, county, and state candidate slates. If they can’t act effectively at the regional and state levels, why should I trust their candidate, all alone, at the very top?

So, I make the most pragmatic choice I can.

Yes, I have said nothing about the growth of our political society’s extremities. Let’s not be foolish and think that this is new. They’ve always been there. They assume that they can finally come out of the shadows and let their hate spill over the landscape. It was Uncle Phil at holidays who’d rant racist trash over dinner. Or it was your cousin Todd, a dedicated Marxist, who always wanted to assure you that true justice would reign in the proletarian worker’s paradise. You assumed they were rare and harmless because we had gotten beyond all that.

We haven’t gotten beyond all that, and they were never as rare as you thought.

While on the road in the sixties, two of the things I, and my friends, most feared was the ride with the racist or the politically doctrinaire. It happened often enough that we developed tactics to deflect the worst. The ride would often terminate prematurely in the middle of nowhere or at a service station on a turnpike. You’d breath a sigh of relief and be grateful that you kept the pack and guitar where you could reach them in a hurry.

So, no, it’s not a recent phenomenon—they were always there; they just feel privileged now.

So yes, you better make your choice. But don’t think it ends with this electoral cycle or anytime soon. It’s a boil on the body politic. The infection was allowed to fester, and now it is beyond simple one-time remedies.