I have just returned from vacation and have watched the nominating process for our country with growing trepidation. I try to stay away from politics in this blog, but, in good conscience, I want to explore some of the observations I have had while watching this process from outside the direct batteground. It is a discouraging sight and the anger that seems to be running rampant in the parties and with the voters makes me fear for the future of our country.

Hypocrisy seems to be one of the major products that we manufacture in this country.

All the liberals are terribly sad that Justice Scalia has passed away and can’t wait to get total control of the Supreme Court. All the conservatives, who swear by the strict reading of the Constitution, are suddenly reinterpreting it so that the “people” can decide who appoints his replacement.

Liberals are in favor of abortion but are against capital punishment. Conservatives are pro-life and pro-capital punishment.

Liberals hate guns but many of the most prominent opponents are the same people who make Hollywood films and TV shows that are filled with gun violence. And they do it because it sells, not to show the problems. If you asked them to pull all their crime, combat, end of the world, zombie and Star Wars type shows, they would all be out of jobs.

Conservatives say they want the government out of our lives…except when they want the government peeking in our bedroom windows.

Liberals want lots of free stuff that someone else pays for…it’s undefined who, but looking like it will be our great grandchildren.

Conservatives want the world the way it was fifty years ago, except they would complain incessantly if they didn’t have all the modern amenities that modern life provides.

Everyone wants good health care, but no one knows how to pay for it…except it shouldn’t be them.

Everyone loves the internet, but also is afraid of what it means for privacy and the developing total dependence of society and life style on its sustainability.

It all has created a real quandary in where we go and how we get there. Progressives seem to say the more changes and the faster, the better. Conservatives limp along trying to protect the rear, and keep society from getting blown up by a sneak attack.

So now we take our partisan feuds to politics in a hugely important election, and we seem to be focusing on a bunch of gerbils as our choices for leadership. Is there a real healer in the group? Certainly not among the frontrunners.

Our voters seem to be taking on the character of the crowds at the Roman Coliseum during the declining days of the Empire…except that everyone, including the crowds, has bigger weapons.

All the disputing parties want total victories: complete surrender by the “enemy”. We need to be seeking a peace that allows the country to endure and prosper. This country cannot survive if its citizens are not allowed some measure of self-respect. We cannot legislate through “thought police” and demanding subservience to every new wave of conscience by some bureaucrat or lawyer trying to break new ground on human relations. People aren’t all going to agree on everything and we need to learn to live with that, because the only alternative is what we are seeing in the Middle East right now.

I hope our voters and our political parties will all step back, take a deep breath and choose some leadership for this country that we can respect and be proud to have represent our country. We have done it before. It isn’t impossible, even though right now it’s looking a little grim.

Let’s stop trying to squeeze all our population into a one-size-fits-all hole. We will all be in our own unbothered little hole soon enough, and at that point will finally realize that there is no total victory in life. Perhaps a little patience and tolerance before we get there would be a nice interlude.

Glenn K. Currie