Penny Wise and Pound Foolish

My Georgia-born mother was never at a loss for colloquial expressions to make a point.  One such admonition was to not be “penny wise and pound foolish.”  As a young kid, I eventually understood the connotation but why the expression compared money with weight was beyond my comprehension.  It was not until I became more familiar with British culture that it became clear that this saying was referencing English pound notes and not an American unit of weight.

The expression came to mind while I was considering how foolish it is that some citizens become enamored with this president because of some small portion of his overall agenda that they feel brings him into their good graces.  His claimed stance on abortion.  His claimed position in support of the “little guy.”  His well-documented xenophobic and racist attitude regarding America’s future.  These people are willing to forgive all indiscretions for some singular point of agreement.  I can’t argue that Donald Trump “walks the walk” when it comes to fighting abortion, particularly through judicial appointments.  I can’t honestly say that I have ever heard that he paid for a woman’s abortion, but, given his lifestyle and attitude toward women, it wouldn’t surprise me if it came out that he did.

If white supremacy is your bag, Trump is your guy.  His racism is a family tradition.  Likewise, if the term socialism makes you break out in a sweat, you need not look any further than Donald Trump.  Hell, he is even trying to eliminate Social Security and affordable healthcare.  If that doesn’t ring true with the strict capitalists among us, nothing will.

If you know anything about The Donald it is that you can predict what he will do; not what he will say mind you.  You have to ignore what he says because most of it is nonsensical blather.  “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” to quote Macbeth.  He will do whatever is in his best interest.  I don’t think he gives a hoot about abortion, one way or the other.  He just knows that fighting against abortion will bring him a block of voters who will take that one “penny” of considered good and ignore the “pounds” of otherwise abhorrent behavior.

For Donald Trump, perception is reality.  Truth is without real meaning.  If a lie is repeated often enough and with the conviction of an unfeeling sociopath, it becomes the perceived truth.  Not the actual truth but, first the lie crawls around a bit in its larval stage, and then the chrysalis forms to eventually become a colorful adult lie.  A thing of beauty.  A lie disguised as truth.  Rudy was right, the truth is not the truth.

Often described as cognitive dissonance, even those individuals who have the intelligence and wherewithal to discern the truth are predisposed to ignore it when it is contrary to their goals and objectives.  The very wealthy love Trump because he panders to their goal of greater wealth acquisition.  The racists love Trump for embracing their hate.  The evangelicals love Trump for his conservative judicial appointments.  Each group may have nothing in common with the other save their support for Donald Trump and his perceived support for their singular cause.  They are all closely watching the minutia within their own narrow perception and will ignore the larger picture.

Another of my mother’s sayings comes to mind.  Hers was a bit more abbreviated than the original that dates to the 13^th century.  The original is, “For want of a nail the kingdom was lost.”  The basis for this was the quote, “The wise tell us that a nail keeps a shoe, a shoe keeps a horse, a horse keeps a knight, a knight, who can fight, keeps a castle.”  In my mother’s version, we stop at the nail and shoe and find “for want of a nail the shoe was lost.”  The message was that we need to be vigilant and not postpone needed maintenance.  For our purpose here I will paraphrase and say, “for want of a single vote, a nation was lost.”

In 2016, about four in ten registered voters failed to vote.  Voter apathy goes beyond my perception, but it does exist and is more of a problem than gerrymandering or voter suppression.  While all are serious problems, voter apathy remains to me to be the most critical.  Currently, the right is the right and the left is the left and crossovers will be of minor importance.  It is the 40% of American adults eligible to vote who don’t think their vote matters that need to be motivated.  I am reminded of a recent on-camera interview with a late 20s (early 30s?) heavily tattooed woman who owned a hair salon.  She told the interviewer that she despised what Trump did and said but was uncertain and unconvinced about Biden.  She then went on to say that she had never voted in any election.  Perhaps we can convince like individuals to leave their beauty salons and tattoo parlors for a few hours on one day to save our nation.

I’ll leave you with another perhaps poignant message from the Bard courtesy of Macbeth.

 

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time.

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more.

Oh, if only he could be heard no more.