Marking Time in Political Quciksand

If you’re stuck in quicksand they tell you not to move, not to struggle, or you’ll hasten your demise. The United States is stuck in a political quagmire. We’re stuck marking time as we sink. Struggling seems futile, yet necessary. Nevertheless instinct takes over and we do so thinking we can prevent whatever will happen this fall. No one knows what the result will be. No one knows what’s going to happen day to day until then. Unchartered waters? Flying blind? Stuck in the middle with you? Pick your metaphor. We’re there.

It certainly makes for uncertainty. It also yields what in essence is a trivial approach to most of what’s happening in the run up. Each thing that happens that looks like it might be news is, in reality, just confirmation of things most of us already know. Doesn’t matter if you’re voting one way or the other or not at all. Doesn’t matter whether you favor the assholes with an authoritarian bent or the buttheads trying to retain some semblance of the country’s foundations. We don’t know the result, but by and large we know that each step along the way is going to reinforce where we stand, what we think, and what we fear as we sink a bit deeper.

Pundits like to toss out the trope that most folks don’t pay attention to poltical campaigns until after Labor Day. That’s another myth that’s been busted in this myth-busting century we’re currently stumbling through. Most aren’t paying attention because most of what’s happening feels like endlessly watching the same Cars for Kids or Jardiance commercials. By the time we reach the Fall, it will be more insufferable.

Whether it’s issues of race, greed, or just screwing over those you don’t like, the sides are well drawn.  Yet there’s this pretense in the media that there’s enough voters out there who haven’t made up their minds. It all seems a bit silly. Sure, some may change their minds depending on whether or not the decaying orange turd gets convicted. Heck, some might even change their mind if either of the two candidates kicks the bucket between now and the election. Although I’m sure we would have a debate if it was Trump who bit the bullet as to whether or not a dead man could still be elected to office.

We’ve seen the 2025 plan. We know what that means. We certainly know enough of what Biden is going to do. The Supreme Court, the supposed referees, have already declared their preference. The only surprises left are just how ugly the fight over the trivial will become.

Meanwhile the clock ticks.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.