We, like frightened sailors on board, seem to be responding to the siren's call of Mermaids to save us from "disaster." Only it is not the siren's call that will help us, but those we elect in state houses and congressional offices who will help us. Here is why:
When a candidate speaks of the fear of using governmental health care programs;
when a candidate tells us that walls, not governmental policy can keep our borders safe;
when a candidate tells us that guns don't kill people;
when vigilantes occupy public land and claim a "right" to do so;
when we are told that those who don't succeed are losers;
when we are told that federal and state taxes are no longer necessary to provide public education;
when we are told there is no such thing as climate change and we are deluged with rain and snow
and ice and flooding;
do we then not understand it is the siren's voice leading us further on into dangerous waters?
Or are we too frightened to try to steady our ship with the hard work of all on board?
When I listen to the speeches of candidates, I am reminded of the science-fiction author Philip Dick who wrote: "The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the word," and then went on
to say, "reality is that which when you stop believing in it doesn't go away."
It was Ted Cruz's venture into writing a children's "mythical" story for his daughter about the nominating process that caught my attention to how much we use mythology to blur the reality of
injustices we want to sometimes forget.
Yet even with all the wild talk and the slang and gestures better suited for the local bar, I am reminded that it is the polling place that will help people sort out mythology from reality.
And it is in our votes at the polling place we will hear the fearless songs of honesty and fairness that has served this country so well, not the siren's song or mythical story.
