Consider the driving force

The 2018 mid-term balloting is behind us, but the election is far from being over. As we were advised over the last few months, the state of Florida would get a lot of attention from the news media. That will continue for a few more days or weeks because the United States Senate seat and the Florida governor’s race are in “recount” territory. A prediction of less than one percent in the Senate race proved to be true. With over four million votes for each candidate, the difference between the two party candidates was/is 0.4 percent. The Republican candidate, Rick Scott, had 50.2 percent and the Democrat, incumbent Senator Bill Nelson, had 49.8 percent of the over eight million votes counted. With a count this close a recount is automatic. The apparent winner, Rick Scott, is claiming “fraud” over the outcome. He wants a greater margin of victory, I guess. Broward County, one of Florida’s 67 counties continues to be the center of controversy. Where have we heard that before?

The Florida Governor’s race is also in the recount category. Andrew Gillum, the Democrat candidate, had conceded earlier, but when he found that he was within the recount margin (the difference was around 33,000 votes or 0.41 percent unofficially), he retracted his concession. Former Representative, Ron DeSantis, the Republican “winner,” has moved on and it is reported that he has begun forming his transition team.

When I look at our nation, it is easy to view it like a very large luxury cruise ship at sea. The multiple decks of luxury suites, the swimming pools, elegant dinners, bars and entertaining shows are designed to make everyone forget the real world. It is designed for a fantasy world and memories to be taken home to justify the expense. The sales brochure shows a blue calm ocean and all the luxury one can imagine. A perfect world for relaxation on vacation or honeymoon.

What is not seen except by the experienced traveller and the crews, is what makes this gigantic dream ship move. Down below there is an engine room with the ability to provide not just the power to move the ship, but also supply the energy for all the fun and games. This power reminds me of the money behind all the activities of our nation. Unseen by most of us the power of wealth is not easily visible to the joyous, happy voting Americans who don’t take time to get below the tourist deck.

And, also unnoticed by the majority of the revelers on board, is at least one big propellor, which is driven by all those engines. This could be likened to our political system which draws all its driving force from the power of money and has an insatiable appetite for all it can get.

Also unseen above the water line is a rudder which determines the direction of the ship (or our nation). For the sake of this example, let’s think of the rudder as the political system. Using the power (the money) of the system, the major political parties depend on the contributions of the wealthy to select our choices of candidates. Whether called Republican, Democrat, Independent, or some other party label, money is the influence that controls our political system. We might ignore it but it doesn’t go away.

It is easy to overlook the details of our worldly system and this might not be a good example for you. It does, however, help me understand why we accept things during the good times if we are enjoying “the cruise.” When the boat docks and we aren’t enjoying the pleasantries, reality sets in. As in Florida, we realize we are being divided by the political parties and used by our political system.

If half of the people in Florida are unhappy with what is going on in Washington, the other half must be content — at least with the choices of candidates that the political parties chose. The political parties are guaranteed to be the winner. If a party’s candidates are already tied to the financial strings of the party, whoever wins in the primary is a good choice for the party in the long run.

Until America looks closely at who actually selects their choice of political party candidates, the rudder will take the nation (or ship) where the rudder wishes.