This may be an over-simplified metaphorical view of where our nation is right now in respect to choosing a leader, but this is how I see it:
Our nation is a vehicle (I couldn't decide which fit better - sedan, sports car, limo, pickup, minivan, Jeep, electric car - you could really make a case for any of these and others) heading down an interstate in the wrong direction. In fact, the direction is a perilous one. We've picked up a full head of steam over the last 8 years, but have been traveling in this direction for most of the last 7 decades. Oh, we've taken a few detours and actually turned around and headed back in the right direction for a few years, but now, we are barreling downhill in the fast lane, pedal to the metal, throwing caution to the wind.
"Um...excuse me, Mr. Driver? Notice the edge of the cliff ahead? Nope? I was afraid of that..."
We have a map. Our driver refuses to use it. He even scoffs at it, considering it outdated and not applicable to our system of roads today. "After all," he proclaims, "it shows our destination should be the other way. Those who created this map must not have been very bright."
This driver is about to pull over and give someone else an opportunity to drive, though, and we, the passengers, get to decide who that driver will be.
It would seem now is quite possibly our last chance to save our vehicle and ourselves, both of which are currently catastrophe-bound. While we get this choice every four years, haven't often had the most accomplished drivers from which to choose, unfortunately. Thus, our situation now is dire.
This time, though, we actually have a great driver within the driver candidate ranks. Problem is, most of the passengers aren't in favor of our present heading and are having trouble choosing a driver. There are really 5 possible drivers at this point:
Two drivers want to keep on trucking. One of them prefers to ride separately and secretly in an unmarked car with fully-tinted windows, while the other wants to pile everyone in a VW bus and sing Lennon's "Imagine" all the way. Either choice changes nothing really. The destination and rate of travel remain the same - merrily hurtling along to our devastation.
One driver claims he'd like to turn around and head back, but is being swayed to simply slow way down. "C'mon," they whisper into his rather large ears, "makes the speed bumps a little less noticeable. Plus, we navigators have figured out ways to make a nice living at this and remain navigators for life. You know, it's rough back there with the passengers - we don't have to ride like they do. Why listen to them and spoil what we have? You are one of us, aren't you? Don't worry, you don't have to tell them." With this driver, we'll slow down, we'll exit the interstate for a while, then get back on, go right, then left, almost aimlessly. The passengers alone will have to provide the fuel and food of the navigators' choosing and settle for the scraps and horrendous gas mileage. Ultimately, we'll still head in a misguided direction.
One driver has convinced the majority of passengers who wish to turn around to simply give him the power to drive unhindered by any law, any expectation, any map. His heading takes the nation off the interstate, and hurtles it up an off-ramp, over a wall, and into who knows where. With a lead foot on the gas, immovable hair slicing the wind, middle finger extended out the window, this egomaniacal road hog drives wherever he wants to. Needless to say, while the destination may certainly be different, it won't be where the map indicates. One thing's for sure - this driver will control the vehicle at all costs. There's a good chance the wheels fall off, roof blows away, windshield shatters, hood flies open, and the engine bursts into flames, causing an explosion of legendary proportion that kills us all.
But there is a driver who knows the map. He knows that the only way to get back to where we belong is to follow the map. He wants to make an immediate U-turn and follow the directions of the map. The navigators don't like this driver because he has told the passengers that he will follow the map, which will take away power from the navigators. When they whisper in his ear, he refuses to listen and he lets the passengers know about their conniving ways. For obvious reasons, those who wish to keep going in the same direction (and there are quite a few misguided souls), don't like him, either. This group also includes the sign makers who push the vehicle onward toward its doom. They are very convincing to the average passenger. So, this driver must fight an uphill battle to get passengers to look past the deception of the navigators, sign makers, and megalomaniacs who don't care about the passengers or the map, and to choose him, the only driver determined to turn the vehicle around and to get back on the right road, the same road indicated on our map.
Who will be driving come November? If it's not that last driver, don't be surprised if passengers start bailing out, even at full speed, having given up on saving the vehicle and, instead, focused on rescuing themselves.
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