Pigs and candidates

“If you catch a pig in the poke, you better like pork!” An applicable idiom for the American electorate, who find themselves dismayed with the candidates who ended up in the ‘poque’ (French for bag), or in America’s case, on the roster this election cycle.

Ironically, both candidates have been squealing (at times) like stuck pigs for our vote come Nov. 8. The screeching is finding many constituents, like me, brooding over our dilemma, even unto morbid introspection as to how we got here.

Notwithstanding 50 years of national moral decline (starting from the 1960s), and now, suddenly we’re shocked at a caustic political environment, complete with “deplorables” and WikiLeaks’ scandals? While we were sleeping, America, our enemy sowed tares in our wheat fields! And by our ennui, we have created a monster that now seeks to devour us.

While certain forms of depression may not be a choice, apathy is. Some indifferent Americans are now vowing to use their freedom not to vote for lack of good choices. Isn’t that the icing on the cake? While liberty-loving American men and women keep dying to sustain that same freedom to decide our own fate via the vote, nauseated citizens want to be left at home to their “indignant” vomiting.

So, do we only vote when the cream has plentifully risen to the top? Do we only tend to our jobs, families, and churches when we are being treated fairly? Even if folks don’t like the 3-party system (Democrat, Republican, and Libertarian), or their presidential nominees (Clinton, Trump, and Johnson), there are in the state of Idaho, 37 available “write-in” choices for president this year. Not only that, but there are also plenty of other issues on the ballot to vote for, which exclusively pertains to the healthy continuance of our beautiful “Esto Perpetua,” with issues and candidates filling up both sides of our 2016 ballot.

True patriotism isn’t a feeling, it’s a duty. It’s not a flag, or a flag waving spectator at a 4th of July parade, but a flag pole buried deep in cement; it is a constant in spite of ever-shifting variables. So grab the car keys and a friend, brave the weather, and vote.

After the election, there will be plenty of time to engage in the how we got here argument just as equally as the how do we get out of this mess debate. But aren’t they intrinsically connected? Aren’t the secrets of the solutions bound up in the problem, just waiting for discerning souls to sleuth them out? Aren’t most problems just opportunities hiding in scarecrow regalia, full of inanimate straw, challenging our embrace of faith over fear? We may want a quick fix, but erosion doesn’t happen overnight… but neither does restoration.

The squealing pigs and sty slinging mud fights, ad infinitum, will only continue for those who choose to stay home. No vote — no voice. For solution seekers, think about these four words:

Yada: Ancient Hebrew word that means ‘to know’, to have an intimate knowledge of; i.e. the candidates and issues! Do your own thinking! Remember Seinfeld’s 1997 "Yada" episode?

Vote.

Serve.

Pray!

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Dan Cooper is a resident of Post Falls.