Picture two political junkies sitting around a table playing high stakes moral poker with holier-than-thou passion. The Canadian looks across the table at her American challenger. The pot is filled with votes and the fate of democracy is on the line.
The Canadian speaks carefully, “I’ll see your Marjorie Taylor Greene and raise you a Lynn Beyak, eh?”
The American looks up over her cards and without hesitation replies, “Then I’ll raise you a Matt Gaetz!”
“I’ll see your Matt Gaetz and raise you a Derek Sloane … and a Pierre Poilievre!”
Silence. The American carefully studies her hand. “I’ll see you with a Josh Hawley!”
The two players glare at each other across the table. The theme music from “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” begins…. The pot grows bigger and the stakes get higher and the game goes on as McConnell and McCarthy cards are played against Ford and Kenney.
The Canadian discards her O’Toole card and draws … a Trudeau – the American folds!
Later in the game, the table will be filled with players from Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Russia, the -stans, the Middle East, Africa, South and East Asia, and Oceania. Everywhere. But always the availability of the same checks and balances.
Russia says, “I’ll raise you a Stalin,” and Cambodia replies with, “I’ll see you a Pol Pot.”
Iran says, “We’ll raise you an Allah,” and Israel replies with, “We’ll see you with a Yahweh.”
There are no winners at the political moral poker table, just a pot full of tax monies and bodies and egos and extremist evangelical myths that keep on growing.
Into the room walks a young child. Her eyes sweep through the souls of all the players and they grow quiet. She calmly claims the pot, and then knocks over the poker table. The politico immoralists at the table are banished to their bedrooms for a lifetime Stay At Home Lockdown. She donates all of the proceeds to Women’s Shelters, after first deducting enough to cover her university education. That’s another way to play the game.
The way I see it.
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Skid Crease, Caledon
*image from pokernews.com