The Titanic Conundrum

Introduction, from a FaceBook post (not my own). Names of Candidates have been changed to prevent this from being a political announcement: Smith lovers pay attention!!!! Some of The Titanic survivors were the ones who had the sense to get into the lifeboats when they were told by the crew to do so. The ones who were in denial froze to death in the ice cold water. Many of those souls had the choice sadly made for them. Conclusion: save yourself and abandon this loser now. Your dignity is more important than your dislike of Jones.

Which side of the political spectrum you reside on aside, I think the underlying allegory is a good one. I think both sides feel that if the other wins, we are on the Titanic. The Titanic was unsinkable – until it wasn’t. The Titanic’s Captain and officers did not immediately take the signs of trouble seriously. At first, lifeboats were sent off with just a few aboard. There was no real urgency to abandon ship. After all, we’re the Titanic; we’ll be fine. The ones in denial did freeze to death. But they were also joined by those not given a chance to make up their own minds: those passengers who were not in first class, those passengers in steerage, those passengers who were deemed to be not worth saving.

The RMS Titanic set sail without enough lifeboats for the number of people on board. We are one of the richest nations in the world, but we also are a nation with plenty of homeless people, plenty of hungry people, plenty of people who need lifelines that are just not there.

Right now, we may be the USS Titanic, steaming along, thinking that even if things are tough, we are always safe. And the USS Titanic may well be making the same mistakes as the RMS Titanic.

All of us, on either political side this election season, see the other side’s winning as the worst case scenario. The real worst case scenario is what happens if we allow this to define us. Only one side wins. Roughly half of us will be happy. Roughly half of us will not be. And that is when we need to rise above the fray. No matter which side wins, we will need to pull together to unify the country again. If we remain at odds, if we shut down daily government in anger, both sides lose.

I don’t suggest that anyone “abandon this loser”. We all should vote our conscience. We all should vote for whoever we think is the better candidate, no matter who calls which candidate a loser (or worse). But at the end, when all the votes are in, the winning side must reach out to the other side. The other side must respond. We must find middle ground. We must realize that if we sink our ship, there are not enough lifeboats for everyone. If we sink our ship, we become the worst case scenario.

We are led by, but not defined by, the President. The Presidency is not a Dictatorship. Our government has checks and balances built in. They may not always work the way we want them to, but neither candidate can accomplish all they want without Congress and the Judiciary. Whether “Smith” or “Jones” wins, our real goal is preserving the Republic.

Joseph de Maistre said “Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite” - Every nation gets the government it deserves. We must now choose between two candidates. We are deeply divided on whether we deserve one, or the other, or even neither of them. But it how we respond after the election that will ultimately give us the government we deserve.