******Cross posted from Way of The Bern*********

Strange phenomena have been observed all over the country this past election season (a season that lasts as we know two years and is full of thunder and blaster). First we had the new new calculus of the lesser of two evils, which miraculously transforms into the evil of two lessers, which then begets the gravity defying upside downism. Now what is this thing, you ask?

Scientifically it is hard to pin down of course, because no sooner something is up that gravity flips and it turns out to be more of a down. And vice versa till reality itself, previously filled with moral certitudes becomes more like a roller coaster made of pretzel shaped logic legos made of smoke and mirrors.

For a visualization aid, none better than Escher(Note: may need to paste the link for it to work. it's worth it!):

And what are the manifestations of this new scientific phenomenon, which appears to suspend not only gravity but defies the very rules of causality and logic, making mockery of all we take to be rational?

A few examples:

Example 1: as of late I have been able to have rational discussions with people I know to be on the right, even as they know I am way, way on the left (yes, further left than Bernie, on some, many issues). At the same time individuals I know to be rational people on the democratic side of the spectrum seem to have acquired a strange form of irrationality, displaying irateness at even the most innocuous suggestion. For example they get all miffed when I say I’ll likely vote for Jill Stein or when I dare mention that Hillary got her nominee position not entirely fairly (yes, mincing words here). Even as members of the previously despised right (however one defines that) seem to give weighty thoughts about the legitimacy and even the desirability of third parties, something which the constitution never actually forbade.

Example 2: At an increasingly popular site called Way of The Bern, posters from The Donald show up and the sky doesn’t fall. Yet it does, or nearly so, when Hillary shills enter the discourse, flinging taffeta left and right to see what sticks. In the end, it boils down to something known as “Bad Donald”. And a vulgar thing is – at different times referred to as moronic, misanthropic, racist, xenophobic, anti-semitic, nearly anti-human. In short, the anti-Christ come to life with an orange hair piece and a complexion to match. Say you respond with a gentle “but Hillary, she is kind of corrupt, no?” And that’s when the sky falls, meaning – after a suitable pregnant pause – but Russians. A clearly irrefutable logical argument, one voiced by all the serious people.

Example 3: So one may well ask, what does it mean when I, from a place way way left, can find a commentary by Sean Hannity to be, well, almost logical (OK, just the one piece)? Or when a conspiracy monger like Alex Jones suddenly seems to makes sense? Worse yet, what to make of the bizarre incidences when turning to a cable channel called Fox News I find it, the previously execrable outlet, almost tolerable (emphasis on “almost”, but still…)? And what with wondering whether Megyn Kelly might actually be committing acts of journalism especially when compared with the cacophony of shills and thrills delivered by MSBC and its flag bearers Rachel Maddow or the once respected Chris Hayes?

Example 4: I keep going back to a piece put up by FThumb – being eaten by crocodiles is clearly better than being eater by lions (or was it the other way around?):

https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/comments/55nor2/imo_being_eaten_by_a_crocodile_is_obviously/

Strangely, people on the right, those we regarded as die hard enemies and barely educated twits get the point, and even smile or at least giggle. But present the same conundrum to your best friend, the staunch democrat, and they may just discombobulate in front of your eyes, or at best deign a pained smile that quickly turns to a smirk, followed by a snark. I usually present it in the form of a question – guess which one is the crocodile and which one is the lion based on their hunting practices and mating skills (remember - one of these two actually lays eggs in a clutch and is an obvious descendant of the dinosaurs from days gone by, while the other is related to our favorite homely kitty cat).

So what is this phenomenon, this tectonic shift of the political plates? is it a harbinger of a new awakening – a lifting of the veil from the supposed wall between government and the fourth estate, revealing the former to be a fecal delicacy cooked in corporate boardrooms and the later to have the consistency of sand dunes?

Alas, applying Occam’s Razor, simpler explanations may come from the realms of psychology not political science and certainly not from physical science. Call it a collective form of cognitive dissonance mixed with a hefty serving of Stockholm syndrome. Them on the Hillary supporting side, especially the once Bernie voters, know very well – in their gut of guts they know that their candidate is deeply flawed. Irredeemably so. All the more so for representing Democrats. Supposedly. Yet, the fear of a Trump is so pervasive, drilled into the citizenry by day in day out vilification of all things Trump, that they feel obliged to vote against their own conscience and some likely against their own interests. That is dissonance alright. That, even as many of them who once flocked to Bernie, are captured by the meme that a vote for a Third party is effectively a vote against Roe v Wade. Which is where your Stockholm Syndrome sneaks in to deliver a coup de grace, psychologically speaking.

Example 5: not long ago, I asked a devoted democrat friend of mine, why she votes for someone as compromised and corrupt as Hillary, attributes she did not deny. The answer was the Supreme Court. Which part of the supreme court, I asked again. She replied, not two seconds later – Roe v Wade of course. Mind you, she did not cite not Citizens United or any other cases that affect corporate rule and money’s role in the government. These did not even enter the equation. Just this one thing – abortion. I asked whether she would vote for a donkey were she assured of getting a pro-choice SCOTUS nominee and she said yes, she would. This, mind you, from a highly intelligent and well informed person.

For balance I did also ask a democrat male acquaintance, another staunch liberal, and he too mentioned the SCOTUS appointments as a key issue but was not so specific on which particular cases were most problematic. Then he proceeded to call Trump a new Hitler before going off on some anti-Russia tirade, seemingly out of nowhere. Needless to say, that was the end of that conversation.

By the same token, I have had opportunities to speak to people on the right side of the spectrum, devout Christians who are not only offended by Trump the person but don’t think he remotely represents their Christian values (is trump much of a Christian/ anyone ever asked?). Still they’ll vote for him because of yes, the Supreme Court. Which part of the court decisions they care most about? yes, you guessed it – abortion. Again, not Citizens United – mostly they don’t even know what that is - not gay marriage or transgender bathrooms either. Just that one thing Roe v Wade, the thorn in the side of true Christians.

So could this be what it all comes down to – an intelligent person, a learned woman, will vote for a donkey. A devout Christian will vote for an elephant if not the devil. And there we were thinking that this issue was resolved. That a consensus has emerged over the years. That some states may curtail pro-choice rights while others expand it but in the end it’s all in the margins of the debate. Choice as an individual right has been decided. After all, some of us may think, there are all manner of profoundly important issues that affect us all – trade, foreign policy, domestic priorities, entitlements, education, immigration, economic policy. Apparently not so much. At least not for certain hard core democrat or republican, the kind we hear from all too often on the airwaves, and for some of us, in person.

And this, in a nut shell, illustrates the saddest part of the upside downism of it all. One side is willing to go into the pits of hell to save abortion rights, including late late term. The other is willing to forgo heaven to eliminate the very same rights, practically from inception. To be sure, abortion may be just a wedge issue, one that highlights much deeper veins that fracture the very soul of the citizenry. Deep underneath it may really reflect a crisis of confidence in the very legitimacy of our governing institutions, of the media and of the court system. The idea that a single Supreme Court appointee may rock the entire balance of the whole country is, or should be, absurd on the face of it. But this is how many people feel – if not about this one issue then about another. People stopped believing that compromises can be found. That somewhere we are all on the same side, as in all of us being, well, Americans.

The loser of this highly polarized electorate is Democracy itself (ah, Democracy. A word often flung about, but apparently without much conviction). And alongside, a system of governance that has stood the test of centuries. All not so important in the final analysis to too many people. Not really.

I may not be fair using the individual examples cited above and I may well be limited in the number of people I speak to or who [still] care speak to me. But through my meager sample of perhaps twelve individuals in all, I gleamed a microcosm of the profoundly polarized and acrimonious electorate we all see. An electorate that underscores a strange kind of a political universe where up is down and down is up, where evil does not mean anything, other than being just another word to bandy about. Yet there it is, the evil of two lesser stands in stark relief as them on each side of the divide, are willing to wade in deep slush to get their way on just one or two issues that are dear to their heart.

Which is why upside downism belies a form of intellectual and spiritual dwarfism.

Is it better to be eaten by crocodiles or lions? It doesn’t seem to matter to them who have accepted that in the end, we will all be gobbled up.