Ruthless certainty is
real problem
plaguing politics
By Carrol Vertrees,
post-tribune.com from the Web, January 22, 2008
I will try not to play potluck
politics in this presidential campaign.
Bless my heart, I choose to be different, not divisive, which probably is a sign
of weakness or dementia.
The candidates take their cues from us and it requires ingenuity, obtuseness and
the art of doubletalk to please us all. I think the blame lies with us and
our narrow agendas -- we want "one of our own" in the White House.
My all-American gesture of fairness involves my college roommate, a decent chap
even if he did leave the world of Methodism a few years back and become a
Lutheran. I believe that his denomination is potluck-disadvantaged
compared to mine, but if he ran for office, I would not think it was important.
Some folks see religious stuff differently and they want a candidate who agrees
with them. That is normal, I guess, but I like this piece of clarity from
Lisa Miller in a Newsweek commentary: "What is dangerous about our world
today is not belief in God, or secularism, or unbelief -- but ruthless
certainty."
I wish that people in high office would stay out of our bedrooms and spend more
time peeking in on the board rooms of America.
This campaign has religion, race and gender, a unique combination that drives
the polling folks crazy and leaves me, a puzzled old fellow, well, puzzled.
It is fascinating.
I do not know if any of the candidates has used steroids -- it would be awful to
see an asterisk in front of a name on the ballot. Don't be surprised if
something like that is thrown into the mix, along with the millions being spent
to encourage voters.
I have played golf with guys whose political beliefs were dead wrong -- I knew
it with ruthless certainty, but that did not spoil our tee parties. One
fellow, though, said that my errant shots usually went right, which surprised
him. He was joking, I hope, about how he saw my political beliefs.
The point, of course, is that we are not so different; civility beats
mean-spirited arrogance that so many show when they insist that their narrow
agendas are all that matter.
As a kid, the story of Jonah and the whale fascinated me, but I always figured
it was more than just a literal fish story. I never figured out how old
this fellow Methuselah was, but later I wondered how he made it without Social
Security or health insurance.
Absolute belief in the Bible, or shaky belief, or skepticism, or race or gender
probably would not be the key to solving problems that we ordinary folks face.
I am old. I do not see, hear and think as well as I should. But I
remember that William Raspberry, a former national columnist, wrote:
"all power, combined with a view that those in power must not distinguish
between their religious and civic selves, is dangerous, whatever its source."
There is a surplus of bias. Religious bias, gender bias, racial bias.
The test is to prevent it from blinding us to the reality that we cannot elect
multiple presidents. One is enough, anyway.
I agree that all potlucks are wonderful -- maybe not the gospel truth, but
close. But if a candidate speaks out on that, I will be forced to look for
a broccoli bias. My duty as a voter, you know.
Contact Carrol Vertrees at
cvelnora@aol.com
(Emphasis Added.)
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