Navigator, what's the course?

Many of my friends are urging me to shut up, hold my nose and support Donald Trump because, even though he is a thoroughly despicable, dishonest and dishonorable human being, we must support the "course" the GOP represents.  Well, as an ex (short time) navigator's helper on a sea going vessel, I have examined the GOP's course and that is the problem.

In navigation, there are two separate terms for the direction you are steering the pointy end of the ship.  One is heading, that is the direction that the bow is pointed at that particular moment.  The other is the course, or to make it clearer the "base course."  That is the direction you want to go.  Your heading may change constantly while maintaining your base course.  You may ease off a few points one way or another to ease the motion of the ship.  You steer one direction off the base course for a while and then make it up by steering the same amount the other direction, all the while maintaining the same base course.  Or, you may be facing strong winds and have to steer a few points off the base course to "crab" along sideways on the base course.  This happens more often in aircraft than ships.

So, let's take a look at the base course of the GOP.  Every president since Ronald Reagan has steered the GOP on a leftward course.  When it was necessary, they would change headings a bit to make the ride a little easier, but the base course always remained the same, just a few points to the right of the Democrats.  So, given that, no matter which party was in power and which distasteful candidate the GOP tried to foist upon the electorate, the Democrats have actually been steering the ship the entire time.  The destination is Europe. (literally European style socialism)  The course changes demanded by either party will only determine whether you make landfall at Rotterdam or Antwerp.

The GOP claims to be the pro life party but in decades of  controlling both houses and the White House, Roe v. Wade remains stronger than ever. The GOP claims to be the party of traditional family values but with control of both houses and the White House the gay rights movement has completely won the culture war.  The GOP claims to be the part of fiscal conservatism and yet, even before Obama, the GOP House, Senate and White House had no stomach for fiscal reform.  And finally, while the GOP claims to be the party of conservative judicial nominees, if you check the record, our worst Supreme Court decisions were decided by majority GOP appointed courts.  And that doesn't even take Justice Roberts and the Obama Care betrayal into account.  The bottom line is that the GOP has lied to the voters and continues lying.  If you continue to believe a known liar you are deluding yourself and will get what you deserve.

Donald Trump does not represent a major course change.  Until he decided to run for president he was a sharp dealing, Hillary supporting, gun grabbing, mobbed up, philandering, crooked New York real estate speculator.  Once elected, he will revert to his natural inclinations.

If you don't like the direction a ship is taking and the officers in charge are constantly engaged in vicious arguments, NOT ABOUT A COURSE CHANGE BUT A HEADING CHANGE, then you are on the wrong ship.  If you don't want to go to Europe, it is time to jump ship because your leaders are just arguing at best about which port in Europe you are going to wind up in. And at worst, they are arguing about the arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

My Shrinking World

Most afternoons, I allow myself an hour at a local coffee shop.  I sip a tall iced coffee, eat a small cookie, glance at the headlines on the overhead television screen and then settle in to spend a quiet hour or so in the company of my Kindle. Sometimes, this is the high point of my day.  It is my daily indulgence if you will, my non spiritual quiet time.

The employees all know me.  I guess I am the "Norm" of this little "Cheers."  When the employees see me coming, they often change the satellite radio station to the Sinatra Channel or doo wop because they know I like it. I am usually the only person in the room except for employees.  It is normally quiet, friendly and peaceful. 

However, of late, there have been problems in my sanctuary.  For one thing, a Muslim intellectual

from a nearby university has taken to hanging around about the same time that I usually show up.  Americans would call him a lay missionary for his zeal in engaging unwitting passersby in conversations about the wisdom of Islam and the popular misconceptions concerning the "religion of peace." If you let him go long, he will quickly lead you into the five pillars of Islam in all of their glory and do it all with his face six inches from yours, his hot breath wafting over your face.  I have had to cut my respite short  twice in the past week to avoid him.

Today, I decided to show up half an hour early to avoid him.  Moments after I arrived, an inspector with the Tulsa County Health Department came in.  She was an attractive, very well dressed middle aged lady.  After a brief inspection she sat down at the table next to me to write her report. We exchanged a few pleasantries.  I apologized for appearing to stare at her and explained that the television set was directly over her head and I was following the news story being shown.

A few moments later, a loud young Millenial drove up on a motorcyle with a casually well dressed black girl on the b*tch seat.  He had the typical man bun/ponytail sexually androgenous look of his ilk and she looked for all the world like an up and coming feminist studies or black studies professor in the making.  She definitely looked like she was the alpha (insert gender appropriate non-offensive gender choice pronoun here) in that relationship.

First, the male appearing Millenial tried to engage the Health Department worker in conversation.  She brushed him off.  The couple then sat down on a sofa a few feet away and he said loudly to me, "I see you are wearing a gun.  What kind is it?'  I replied that I did not want to discuss it.  He then said, "Oh, I guess you just like to brandish it."

What is itabout this generation that forces them to make an issue out of things they don't understand?  Make no mistake, the question the Millenial asked was not designed to get gun info.  The words "Glock 43 Gen 4 with a 25 cent trigger job in a Blade Tech Kydex IWB holster" would not have satisfied him. I doubt that he would have really understood them. His body language, eyes and speech patterns all indicated a liberal troll on the make to start an argument or create a scene that could not end well for me no matter what happened. 

To say that I was angry does not begin to describe my feelings.  I wanted to say a lot of things like, "You're an idiot if you think my sitting here in the corner quietly reading my Kindle with two inches of gun butt sticking out of my waistband under the table is brandishing a weapon."  I really wanted to say, "Bud, open carry is legal in Oklahoma especially and while I don't do it often, I am licensed to carry this weapon just about any way any time I choose to."

But, I didn't say anything.  Talking to jerks like that usually only escalates an already degrading situation. I just began pulling my shirt tail out over my weapon.  However, as I did that I asked myself, "Why are you accommodating this jerk?" The peace of my quiet time had been broken.  There was no need for me share space with that type of jerk.  I simply packed up and and walked away, muttering under my breath.

But sadly, my world gets smaller and more annoying all of the time.