Looking downstream the river forks. One fork carries on through the convention to a choice between Bernie Sanders and whoever the Reeps put up. The other hurtles toward a cataract. Most choose to avoid discomfort by internalizing the cataract and grope their way hand on the shoulder of the one before them to the palace of SheWhoMustbeObeyed. The rest go into free fall plunging into waters of unknown depth. For most of these there is the moment when they realize that they are not going to die, that if they push off from the bottom they can reach the surface. On the way back up each one wonders where this is taking them. A few head off downstream. A few others look for a cavern behind the waterfall. Treading water, all eyes search eagerly for someone who has a plan…

Ralph Nader was judged harshly for leading folks away in 2000. Some who frequent this site may have spoken badly of him. What will the blind gropers say about those who give the White House to a Trump or a Cruz and, perhaps (if the independents don't turn out), 60+ seats in the Senate? The Palace Guards are totally convinced that the fear of the unknown will cause the vast majority of swimmers to embrace the fuzzy comforts of blindness. They believe that the judgment visited upon Mr. Nader is a deterrent sufficient to prevent an insurgency of any significance. They will make every effort to coax, cajole, promise, and browbeat any and all into kneeling before SheWhoMustbeObeyed. You can hear them now. They are chanting, whispering, singing, that there is no choice.

I am a plunger who has no choice. I have accepted that things must get worse and probably much worse before enough swimmers decide that the unknown should be feared, but the known way of the palace cannot be allowed to continue. Having accepted that, it is necessary to accept the fact that there may never be enough swimmers willing to take the plunge even though doing so will eventually cause the palace to crumble. This is the nature of the unknown.

I am a plunger who would like to address “the fear of the unknown” thing. It would be nice to have a plan before the fall. Unfortunately, it appears that those who left before with Mr. Nader erected a shrine rather than a platform that lends itself expansion. This isn’t a judgment (especially after what they went through), but an observation. It doesn’t seem like there are any other such platforms.

Maybe the only option is to build a raft from whatever is at hand and float downstream…