In sports, there’s something called “a level playing field.”Rules aren’t altered so that one side is assured of winning. These days, politics isn’t being played that way. It is a blood sport where the end (winning) justifies the means.
Imagine that your best friend challenges you to play a game of tennis. Since this is a contest between friends, a wager is suggested. All seems enjoyable, especially since the loser pays for dinner at a local restaurant.
The match promises fun and a challenge to win a free dinner. However, arriving at the court, you notice that your friend has removed all the lines on your side of the court. When you ask why, you hear that the rules stipulate that you must hit each shot within the boundaries, but his shots can go anywhere as long as they clear the net.
“Game on!” he says. Being a good friend and a better sport, you play. But you then lose and buy dinner as you seethe in anger.
This “contest” between friends is not a contest at all because the playing court is not level. But it does remind me of the various attacks against Democrats that I read about or hear about. The party is often seen as not forceful enough in dealing with Republicans. Weak is frequently used to describe democratic leaders, or they are asked to fight harder for their constituents.
While I appreciate voters’ frustration, I suggest that the 2024 Federal election has put the Democrats in a situation similar to the above contest between friends—one is forced to stay within the lines while the other can score points at will.
Courtesy Pop Crush
Think back to the one debate between Harris and Trump and ask how to debate an opponent who said that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were “eating cats and dogs.” How do you debate such a lie as that, or all the lies about the Epstein Files (e.g., the famous “Client List” sitting on Bondi’s desk).
And what about the overweight, ill-trained, masked ICE agent who, as we were told, would capture rapists and murderers? Instead, he goes after old men mowing grass, or honors high school students or children at ball practice—more and more lies.
Robert Frost enjoyed reading free verse poetry, but all his poems followed strict meter, rhyme, and form—read his “The Road Not Taken.” It was he who observed that writing free verse was like playing tennis with the net down. That is the position Trump has created—no net to hit anything over.
While I share the voter sentiment of wishing for more from Democratic leaders, I appreciate the position they are in. While Trump “floods the zone” with one suspected illegal act after another or one more lie, opposition leaders must–to preserve what America has remaining–follow its laws and respect its norms while combating him.
The survival of our republic is not to be confused with a tennis match, but the comparison serves the purpose of showing that we all must, to save our grand experiment, find a way to push back.
One way is for voters to become better informed and seek what is best for all, rather than a few. Voters must use their power.
