Politics & The Wild, Wild West

Many years ago, a senior rabbinic colleague remarked to me, “We Rabbis are handicapped. We see everything through midrashic eyes.” Midrash, that creative form through which the early rabbis taught us to look at texts and the world is one of many contributions of Rabbinic tradition to our human condition and outlook in our lives.

My friend’s comment was very much on my mind one evening last week. I had stepped out of a store in a strip mall near my home. I was minding my own business, heading for my car. As I neared my vehicle, I noted a number of other shoppers had stopped in their tracks, their attention fixed on the rear of the car next to my own. Behind the car was a gentleman who was making something of a ruckus. There was no one in his immediate vicinity. Yet he was waving his arms and wildly gesticulating. I slowly neared my vehicle, as he proclaimed quite loudly, “Everyone loves my T-Shirt. Everyone is noticing my T-shirt. I love my T-shirt.” HIs tone grew angrier as he chanted (Or perhaps I might say, ranted.)

As I drew nearer I noted the message on his tank-top, “Make America Great Again. Donald Trump for President.” Had this gentleman been engaged in a conversation with someone nearby, I might have understood his fervor and the volume. But no one was engaged save for passers-by who’d stopped momentarily to notice. It was hard to miss. A few moments later, he closed the hatchback, and climbed into his car. I headed for my vehicle and drove off. I was struck by what I had witnessed. I couldn’t help but wonder about his intent. To be sure, we are living in a chaotic, noisy, polarized time. Passionate exchanges abound. There’s plenty of shouting and wild gesticulation. But this gentleman was broadcasting to nobody and to everybody. He was not engaged in a debate or conversation. He was calling attention to himself - and obviously, to his point-of-view.

Hardly a day passes without a conversation about how nervous folks are about the political and uncivil climate across our country. It plays out on many levels: racial relations, economic inequality, class divisions, geographic divisions, and certainly along political lines. As I drove away, I wondered: Are our political leaders giving sanction to such displays? Politics will always be noisy and constructed around conflict. I wonder whether, in this round, our leaders and their handlers have unleashed waves of anger, and sanctioned a Wild, Wild West atmosphere. What will it take to harness all the raw emotion and unfettered self-expression across our nation so that the fabric of our society — hopefully a civil society - won’t be torn beyond repair?

I can’t answer for the gentleman who clearly loves his T-shirt and the message it bears. I can, and must answer for myself, each and every day in the ways in which I conduct myself and interact with those around me. So must each of us. I would hope that our leaders, our candidates, and their managers would do the same.

I still can dream, can’t I?