What is the PRIMARY goal?

This week we read "The Pyre of Denethor" and "The Houses of Healing."  When the Rohirrim arrive to break the siege of Gondor, we would expect the leaders of Minas Tirith to be overjoyed with relief.  Instead, Pippin and Gandalf must confront Denethor, who has given up hope and decided the best action is to die sooner than wait for the forces of Mordor to do kill him.  His intention is to burn himself and Faramir alive.  In the second chapter, the battle has ended and the surviving characters recover from their wounds.

We will stick with the first chapter, "The Pyre of Denethor."  Denethor has been a difficult character to understand for most of our text.  He needs Gandalf's help, but resents him every step of the way.  He takes Pippin into his personal service, but doesn't give him much to do.  This chapter untangles the mystery:  Denethor has had his own Palantír, and has used it to communicate with Sauron.  But unlike Saruman, who betrays the West, Denethor's communication leads to despair.

When Gandalf comes with hope, Denethor does not believe him.  When Gandalf does not tell him of Aragorn's coming, Sauron reveals that fact, causing Denethor to consider Gandalf a usurper.  And so Denethor is led astray both by Sauron and also his own desire of self-reliance.  He is so self-centered that, when he finally lights his own pyre, he takes the Palantír into the flames with him.

Denethor's arrogance leads to some serious strife.  He orders his men to bring torches so he can set himself and Faramir ablaze.  Beregond, Pippin's friend in the guard, refuses the command and draws his sword against the others.  When Gandalf arrives, Beregond has killed three men.  After Gandalf sets the record straight, he says:  ‘Work of the Enemy!  Such deeds he loves: friend at war with friend; loyalty divided in confusion of hearts.’  If the men of Minas Tirith kill each other, Sauron's goal is that much easier.

The 2020 Democratic primary is underway.  There are a variety of candidates out there, all with pros and cons.

(A note before we continue.  I'm writing from a Democratic voter point of view, since I am a Democratic voter.  Maybe you consider yourself an independent, or even a Republican.  However, if you intend to vote for Trump (who has put people in concentration camps in our country) you need this ethical guide more than most.  Don't bother with this post.  Instead, read this and this and get back to me with questions.)

The beauty of a primary is it's a way for the party to engage in a public debate about their ideas.  Bold, or incremental?  Familiar, or new?  What issues should be prioritized?  All of these are healthy things to discuss.  But the problem with a primary is, if the disagreements are too deep, you may end up with a candidate everyone dislikes equally.

Generally, arguments between friends and partners is good.  Arguments are a showcase of values.  They are an opportunity to hear the values of others and to figure out where the common ground is (not to be confused with 'middle ground').  To take a time honored example, teenagers may want to stay out late with their friends.  Their parents may feel nervous about them staying out late into the night.  A bad solution becomes a power struggle: The teen says they want independence, but the adult says their anxiety about their safety takes precedence.  This teaches that independence is in conflict with safety, and also teaches the teen to be subservient (or motivates rebellion).  A good solution avoids this zero-sum lens.  The teen can stay out late, but they will text their parents every 45 minutes who they are with.  Both sides get what they want, even if it isn't exactly what they envisioned.

There are 22+ candidates to choose from.  Some are worse than others.  Hopefully the field will shrink before Iowa.  And then we'll vote, have more debates, vote more, and finally have one candidate that clearly has the most support.  In that case, all our fighting up to then will have been good.

Look at the text again: Gandalf does not complain of "Friend battling friend."  He battles with people all the time - with Denethor, with Gimli, with Pippin.  The issue is being "at war with friend".  War is different - war is large and wholesale.  Battles are smaller things, which one can win or lose without destruction.  But war is different.

While we argue over the candidates and their policies and their pasts, we must keep in mind our common objective: Defeating Donald Trump.  That's the war we need to focus on.  From Biden to Williamson, all the candidates oppose his atrocious policies on immigration, which is causing real suffering right now, directly and indirectly.  Similarly, they all have a vision of increasing healthcare access, decreasing the wealth gap, and confronting global climate change.  Each of their visions, of course, are different.  But at least they have such goals, whereas Trump does not (he claims to want to fight the wealth gap, but has only worsened it).

And yet there is despair.  I understand it.  I've heard - from family gatherings to the workplace - different people say "Trump's going to win, it is no use."  It's very early to be feeling thus.  I hope the primary invigorates these people, and that they find a candidate that they can get excited about.

Excited, but not attached.  Part of Denethor's despair is attached to his arrogance.  Gandalf asks him what he wants and he says:

‘I would have things as they were in all the days of my life,’ answered Denethor,

‘and in the days of my longfathers before me: to be the Lord of this City in peace,

and leave my chair to a son after me, who would be his own master and no wizard’s

pupil. But if doom denies this to me, then I will have naught: neither life

diminished, nor love halved, nor honour abated.’

Being excited about a candidate is a great thing.  It means we may donate to them, buy their bumper stickers and lawn signs, make phone calls, canvas door to door, or go to a rally.  All of these things will help.  However, at a certain point only ONE candidate will win the primary.  It is likely it will not be our first candidate of choice.  And now we differentiate between excited and attached.

If we are excited for your candidate, and they are not the nominee, that will be disappointing.  But the candidate will be officially announced in the summer of 2020 - the election is of course in November.  That's plenty of time to process our disappointment and get behind the actual candidate - maybe with less gusto than otherwise.  But behind them nonetheless.

But if we are attached to our candidate, we may see their loss of the nomination as a personal loss.  Not only was our candidate rejected by the party, but WE will feel rejected by the party.  We may want to reject them in turn and refuse to vote.  We lose the battle and give up the whole war.  "Work of the enemy" indeed.

We would be fools to be arrogant like Denethor.  A candidate we think is half as good as our first pick is still much better than Trump.  I wrote explicitly about our political situation once before.  In that post, I said: 

Often we hear: "What is required for evil to triumph is

for good people to do nothing."  Often we think that do-nothing attitude is

intentional - the good people don't care.  What if it's a byproduct of caring too much?

If we allow despair and paralysis to take hold within us, surely our enemies will triumph.

Bitterness and pride are ruinous.  There are people dying in concentration camps in our country.  Vote Democrat in 2020.  Have a preference of candidates and fight for your priorities, but in the end, on November 3rd, 2020, vote Democrat.  It is unconscionable to let people suffer in squalor because you didn't get 100% of what you wanted.

NB: While I linked a lot of articles casting dispersions of many canidates, I meant for those articles to be an example of negative opinions.  They are not reflective of my opinions (With the exception of trashing Marianne Williamson.  If you plan to vote for her, let's talk).

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