Two Sides of the Coin - countdown 4 weeks

I didn’t watch the presidential debate earlier this week. Did anybody? Or for those of you who did, did it change the way you see your candidate? Or were you totally on the fence who to vote for and this debate pointed you in one direction or the other?

I had a futile wish that maybe, following the debate, the leaders of both the Republican and Democratic parties would say to their partners, “holy cow, we need to scramble and somehow get another candidate on the ballot.” Which of course is too late. The ballots have already been printed, I think. I can’t figure out the whole absentee voting issue, but I think many people will actually be voting well before election day. I think that is just another political ruse to get (or lose) votes. But that's a whole separate issue.    

I could continue that rant, but I really need to focus, to say what I mean to say, what my heart and head have been asking me to share for the past many months.

First, back to questions I posed last week. Why do we have political parties? And why only two?

The answer to the second question, in our current political atmosphere, seems pretty clear. There are only two sides to any coin. Our cars’ blinkers only have one to turn right or left. Just as each human has a right side and a left side.

So, we have two political parties, one way over there and the other way over there. But can you see a whole lot of stuff in the middle? The substance of a coin is the metal in its middle. When you are driving your car straight ahead, you don’t turn on your blinker (and doesn’t it make you crazy when the person ahead of you leaves their blinker on after turning a corner?).

And our human body’s most important parts are in its middle. A person can do pretty good without their right or left arms and legs. Take away the digestive tract, the heart, the brain, you don’t have a fully functioning person any more.

So, here are these two political parties – the Democrats and the Republicans. I think there are a lot of American citizens who lean towards one or the other, but they see some value in what the opposite party stands for. But these people still retain their whole bodies, their hearts, their heads, and both their right and left arms and legs.

Unfortunately, it appears to me that the leaders of each of the parties and their strongest followers have given up their right or left arms and legs, even the right or left halves of their brains. Okay, let me be honest – I think some of them have lost their complete minds, but again I digress.

I don’t know. Does that sound just too simplistic? Am I totally missing something here? Because I can’t just help believing with my whole being, my right and left sides as well as my head, my heart and my digestive tract, that there should be this thing call moderation.  

Example 1: This country was created by immigrants from all around the world, we were once known as the Melting Pot of nationalities. So how can we close our borders and say that no one gets to move here anymore. People should still be able to immigrate here from their native country, but they have to follow the rules, get a job, accept our principles, learn our language, assimilate to the American way while retaining their own culture. But not being given a single free handout.

Example 2: Then there’s the second amendment. Each and every law-abiding citizen has the right to carry a gun. Nobody is going to take that right away from us. Right? Well, we’ll see. But in the meantime, if you are a convicted felon, I think you just lost that right. And nobody in the free world needs to be carrying around, or have access to, assault weapons of any kind. Yes, all those school shootings fill me with sorrow, but remember, guns (or any weapons) do not kill, people kill and unfortunately, kids kill. Let’s answer that problem instead of seeing an inanimate object as the enemy.   

Example 3: And last, the issue of abortion. Talk about an issue which causes me sorrow. But the bottom line, without me totally spilling my guts all over my keyboard, is that our government cannot reverse Roe vs Wade. There will be just as many babies killed, but it will be done unsafely, at a much greater risk to the mom’s health and well-being. It should not be restricted to use only in cases of rape or incest (which makes me shake my head – is incest ever not a case of rape?) or when the life of the mother is at risk. But, come on, women. If you haven’t decided by half-way into your pregnancy if you want to “get rid of it”, then I just want to cry for you and for that precious little one you are carrying. In my opinion, the only restriction there should be on abortion is that it needs to occur prior to twenty weeks. I don’t know why the pro-choicers think that’s so difficult. If that baby has a chance to live outside the womb, I think that as a civilized society we have a responsibility to at least try. And then try even harder to make sure these women – all women – have safer birth control options. (I so did not want that discussion to turn into a tirade. I’m so sorry.)

Anyway, call me a wimp if you like, call me someone who can’t stand up for their beliefs. Try to start an argument with me, but I won’t bite. I think that as elected representatives of the American people, Congress and the president are obligated to find a middle ground on all of the issues, stop their petty bickering, and serve the men, women and children of this country.

(I bet you can’t wait to see what discussion I get into here next Friday!)

After I finished writing this, I ran across this quote by Jerry Garcia: “Choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.” Hmm?