The Third Rail

 

Royal Castle, an old burger chain that used to reign in Miami and parts of the south, hired young teens and old men to fill counter positions. As one of those teenagers, I met an old-timer who worked the graveyard shift. He was a “character” who had once run a speakeasy during prohibition. In the early 1960s he worked his overnight shift to the delight of the “blue-haired” set in North Miami. His “ladies” would come in and he would greet them with, “Step right up ladies, seating is in the main dining room. What color tablecloth would you like.” They would venture forward to perch on one of the available ten stools and he would wipe the counter in front of them with a clean towel.

As some of my late shifts would overlap with his, I listened to his tales from the “good ol’ days” when he was in his prime. The stories were particularly good after he made a trip to his car trunk for a couple of sips of White Horse scotch. One piece of sage advice he passed on from his speakeasy days was that you can discuss almost anything, but never politics or religion. Those two subjects were verboten: the “third rail” of topics. The metaphorically electrified danger zone. A bit later in life, I would receive this same warning during bartender training, from another wise senior. Throughout my life, that advice has served me well. That was then, this is now.

As I am now a person with more life in the rearview mirror than road ahead, I feel it is time to poke that third rail and its 750 volts. Both topics are unique, but I find that they also have much in common. While American politics was originally designed to maintain a degree of separation between church and state, modern politicians seem bent on using both to their advantage. They want to use the fervor of the faithful to conflate messages and promote certain causes that will be of benefit, if not for the voters, certainly for the politicians.

Wars started in the name of politics are generally unpopular but religious wars have been a long-standing tradition. While most wars are motivated by competition for resources, territory, or political advantage, religion is often used as cover for the more distasteful excuses. The Thirty Years War was perceived as religious, but it was really more about power dynamics than just faith.

The recent conflict between a Jewish country, a Muslim country, and a mostly Christian country, we are calling the War in Iran, certainly has religious overtones, but it is more about political power, ego, and economics. Pete Hegseth calls Iran a “crazy regime… hell-bent on prophetic Islamist delusions…” while Sec. of State Marco Rubio calls them “religious fanatic lunatics.” The current conflict between Iran and Israel has been going on for roughly four decades starting after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. It has also been a “shadow war” of proxies with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza supported by Iran.

To view this current conflict through a strictly secular lens would be a mistake. Jews and Muslims have been fighting for the past 1,400 years with the 7th century rise of Islam. The modern political conflict going back to the rise of Zionism in the late 1800s. This has not been a continuous war but one characterized by long periods of coexistence.

How America got sucked into this recent semi-religious battle is a question that can only be answered by our ruling White House Christian-Atheist. Perhaps he sought personal glory in a quick decisive win. Admitting that he got conned by his better in Israel will never happen. His Art of the Deal skills have him “painted” into a corner by others who have literally centuries of experience. He probably thought that since the waterway in Hormuz was “straight” it wouldn’t violate his anti-Woke policy. Perhaps he should have looked at a map to see how “straight” it is. But I kid our resident genius.

The melding of religion and politics was seen by our forefathers as something to be avoided. Trump and others use it as a cloak of invincibility because they not only have God on their side, but Trump also thinks he is God. As we have seen for most of human existence, religion can be a double-edged sword that cuts for both good and evil. In the hands of a politician, religion is a double-edged sword dipped in poison: it is always used for evil purposes.

Donald Trump hosted a game show called The Apprentice. He relished using the tagline, “Your fired!” Perhaps its time for American voters to return the favor and give he and his cronies the same admonition. A midterm turn-around in the House is a distinct possibility and a Senate democratic majority is within the realm of possibilities. Impeachment and removal are perhaps a pipedream, but political castration in the midterms and a lame-Duck Donald president for his final two years will perhaps be a survivable outcome.