Get your popcorn ready

Maybe it was the way I was raised. Growing up, meals were cooked at home and you ate them. If not, you did without. It was that simple, you ate what was put in front of you.

Evidently, that attitude still sticks with me. When we go out to eat, I’m reluctant to complain about a meal. And it’s even harder for me to tell the waiter that I want to send it back to the kitchen for something else. The food has to be really bad for me to do so.

So, I’ll usually go along and eat the meal, and not complain or send it back to the kitchen. I suppose it was just the way I was raised. (Although with the price of going out to eat these days, it is getting easier to do.)

Next week, we will have the first scheduled Presidential Debate. As of now, the two presumed choices for President in November are President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. One is an obviously cognitively challenged old man, who appears to be slipping more and more by the day. (Biden is 81.) The other is a vindictive, mean, sometimes incoherent old man. (Trump is 78.) These are the choices the Democratic and Republican Parties have given us voters. This is the sequel that, as the polls show, a large majority of us didn’t ask for.

What will the debate look like? I agree with Senator Mitt Romney when asked about the upcoming debate. “It’ll be entertaining, informative,” he said. “Like the two old guys on ‘The Muppets,” he added.

Like the two old guys on “The Muppets.” Yep, that’s a good comparison. “The Muppets” was a TV show from back in the mid-1970’s that highlighted the Muppet characters, like Kermit the Frog and Elmo. The two old guy Muppets were Waldorf and Statler, who sat up in the balcony, and were constantly making complaints and criticizing the rest of the characters on the show.

This is the meal being served to us by the Democratic and Republican Parties. It’s being put in front of us and we’re expected to eat it. Well, we’re expected to make a choice, and vote for one or the other this fall. They say we have to make a choice, because if we don’t, the other side will win, and that would be a disaster.

But will there really be a big difference whoever wins this November? Yes, there would be some differences, but there won’t be the positive directional change this country needs, no matter which one wins. The political party cooks are sending out this meal, and we are expected to eat and not complain.

What if we sent our plates back, and said we’re not eating this meal this time? In 2016 and 2020, I did not vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate. I wrote in on my ballot, “None of the above.” And it looks like I will probably do it again this year.

What if many of that large majority who are dissatisfied with Trump/Biden Part 2 did the same? Yes, one of those old guys will win, and it may be the one you dislike the most. But, in the long term, will it really make a difference? More importantly, if the Democratic and Republican Parties see that people are not voting for either candidate, they might get the message that they are losing votes and need to find candidates that respond more to where the majority of Americans are. And if they don’t, maybe a legitimate third political party might emerge.

While we may not deserve better, we certainly need better. In the meantime, get your popcorn ready to watch Trump and Biden (Waldorf and Statler) in the debate next week. Afterwards, “None of the above” may not look like such a bad option.