Good vs. Evil

When it comes to doctors (or nurses), lawyers, airplane pilots, the people who prepare and serve us food, the people who design and build our houses, the people who design and build our TV, cars, or cell phones, we naturally expect them to be well-trained and very good at what they do.

Of course we do. We avail ourselves to these things because we trust the experience and ability of those workers to do their job reliably, accurately, and correctly.

So why is it that, when it comes to politics, so many are so unwilling to listen to those who clearly know what they’re talking about?

Truth is that people do ignore the advice of doctors (or nurses). Or lawyers. That usually ends well for them.

Sometimes people who don’t know what they’re doing prepare and serve food. Or design and build houses. That also usually ends well for them.

And when it actually does end well, it’s usually because they actually did know what they were doing. They learned the necessary skills somewhere along the way. (Or, sometimes, because they were very lucky.)

The point is that experience and ability do matter. We implicitly acknowledge that when we go to the doctor (or nurse) or lawyer or restaurant or phone store (or grocery store).

Or fly on a plane!

We generally don’t eat at a filthy, infested restaurant. We generally don’t go to doctors (or nurses) or lawyers who’ve lost their license due to egregious errors in their practice.

So why are we so sloppy when it comes to our politics?

Why are we so sure we know better than people who make the study of politics their career?

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A key part of the answer involves how much those who practice politics lie.

If doctors (or nurses) or lawyers lied to us like that… well, it’s hard to conceive of, isn’t it. We wouldn’t stand for it. We’d put them in jail!

If an airline pilot said we were flying to Detroit, but instead flew us to Cleveland, that pilot would be out of a job. A restaurant that served beef when we asked for chicken wouldn’t last long. People who sell things that don’t work are frauds or incompetents.

And yet we accept all of that from our politicians.

It is one thing to spin a situation to your best advantage. But we’ve slippery sloped our way down the rabbit hole to a fantasy land of lies and illusion.

So it comes down to: Who do you believe?

Who can really fly the plane? Who can really make the dinner? Who knows the right medicine or the right point of law? Who can really design and build a good cell phone, or car, or house?

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It isn’t just that The Orange One is so obviously — so self-evidently — unfit for the Oval Office. It’s that everyone in his campaign comes off as either bat-shit crazy or clearly lying like the proverbial rug.

And his supporters come off as ill-informed, at best.

There is no comparison between the way Clinton supporters talk versus the way Trump supporters talk. The tone and tenor of those respective signals alone tells you which is good and which is evil.

Not to mention the tone and tenor of the candidates themselves; again, the difference is stark and clear.

This is as close to a black and white issue as politics ever gets!

Ignore the words, just listen to the tone.

Listen to the foulness and hate that comes from one.

Listen to the inclusiveness and love that comes from the other.

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It looks like the winds have changed in the last two weeks.

On the one hand, a fresh breeze blows from Clintonville; the residents there sense a coming victory. It seems that sanity may prevail after all.

And from false gold tower of Mordor, a new stench arises. The denizens there forge foul weapons of a doomsday war.

They aim to go down fighting, taking as many of their enemies (and supposed friends) down with them as possible.

Surely all can see clearly now where evil lies.

You’d think so, anyway, but some people couldn’t find their nose in a three-way mirror. Even if you wrote “NOSE” on it with a Sharpie.

Even after all this, some people still side with Sauron. As hard as that is to credit. (Because, yes, people really are that stupid. The only silver lining here is that I now forever automatically win all such arguments.)

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This truly is an existential election.

It’s education versus ignorance. It’s intelligence versus stupidity. It’s between cultures within the USA and within the GOP. It’s about truth versus lies.

It truly, really, honestly is about light versus dark, good versus evil.

It’s fucking mythological, my friends!

So this is not the time to be pissy about Bernie Sanders deserved better or about how Gary Johnson has a chance (no; he doesn’t).

This is definitely not the time to let Hillary Clinton’s downsides, whatever you conceive them to be, detract you from her opponent: a genuine human monster. (A stupid, ignorant, hateful, misogynistic one, at that.)

Weigh all that Bill Clinton has done, foul and fair.

Weigh all that Hillary Clinton has done, foul and fair.

Weigh all that Donald Trump has done, foul and fair.

Consider, in all three, their public service, good works, and charity.

Consider, in all three, their experience and ability, their track record.

How does any honest person not see the huge imbalance?

How does any Christian not see the huge imbalance? (That’s one thing that really gets me. This election has demonstrated the moral corruption and hypocrisy of the so-called Christian Right.)

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It’s going to be an interesting (and no doubt disgusting) month, but what’s really going to be interesting is the aftermath. What will happen to the GOP?

Will our short-term memories allow this to blow over?

Will we just move on to the next new thing, as we so often do?

Or will there be a serious bill to pay?

Or is this just another sign of our sinking standards of decency, of intellect, of rational behavior? Just another dismal signpost along the way.

“Abandon hope all ye who pass this way.”

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