Swamps

Just when we think, as the provincial judge in “The Crucible” so ominously said, “we are going to touch the bottom of this swamp”, meaning the political climate in the U.S. that we find ourselves tossed into, we find yet another mucky aqueduct that leads to an even deeper, more porous pocket of filth below our feet. Wikileaks is like the monkey wrench in the machine, causing gears to grind where others thought more than sufficient oil had been placed in the political machine. Sexual exploit accusations are a dime-a-dozen and some may hold water, but with the glass on the bottle already being that dismal brown glass and having dust on it as well, it’s quite hard to tell if there’s any liquid in the bottle without shaking it up a bit. President Obama has adamantly urged voters, if they value their history and legacy at all, to “Go vote!”, calling to mind those who had to have armed body barricades around them to even have a chance at ‘pulling that lever’ to vote, not just metaphorically but literally. In the tradition of democracy, or a democratic republic, I plan to do just that - vote. I also don’t plan to be hoodwinked by the fallacy of a false dichotomy. But if we feel like an inverse-Dorothy after having been swept up in the cow and witch laden twister and now at the yellow brick road crossroads where she met the scarecrow, meaning, in her case, all ways were “a good way” but only one led to Oz, and for us, all ways seem like ‘a bad way’ and one leads to certain destruction, then we have put far too much faith in government. Government is a God-ordained institution, but even when it’s a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people”, it’s still overseen and administered by, well, people. Back over at the swamp…we may have had some sort of a guilty pleasure seeing the gunk dredged up from the lives and backgrounds of the two primary candidates, be it scandalous emails or banter, but let us not forget that were our lives to be put on such a public limelight, hisses and jeers may abound even more as skeletons came tumbling out of our own closets…let him who is without sin tighten the noose of the hateful meme around the candidates necks. May we not forget that good things can come out of swamps, and it’s not all alligators and diphtheria. Disney World was built over swamp, albeit with a city’s worth of sand trucked in. Swamp gas is a brilliant phenomenon that rises up from the bottom and luminously radiates with a spectacular glow (Google image “swamp gas” and be prepared to realize that you actually saw flashing methane and not a UFO last visit to the lake); and in the theme of the month, Will o’ the Wisps and Jack o’ Lanterns are similar phenomenon. May we trust in God’s sovereignty that whoever is selected, whether by divine judgment or mercy, in a few weeks to have veto power, nuclear code access, and the ability for Supreme Court appointments, not one corner of God’s throne will be shaken and not one iota of his plan will be thwarted. We may even see a few Will o’ the Wisps (swamp gas lights) and/or fireworks shining along the way.