I Sat In A Field

A Little R&R, Election Abstention, Music, &tc.

Dear Friends,

Why is it that every time June rolls around I have this sense that life is about to get a bit more freeing and leisurely? Probably because that is what June meant when I was a little kid. Summer is here! Not a care in the world! Run around the neighborhood, eat popsicles to your heart’s content, stay out well after the streetlights come on. That hasn’t been my reality for over three decades, but those summers indelibly altered my DNA and sense of space and time.

In reality, June means things are getting really busy. The band is keeping the ball rolling on our studio album, and we are headlining a show on Saturday night—our debut at a local brewery and one of the hottest spots in town for live music. We’re doing our best to get in some good rehearsal time. July is booked with three different art shows around the region where we’ll Lord-willing be selling Tara’s artwork, and that means a lot of prep work in June. Then I’m teaching a D.Min class at Westminster Seminary right after the art shows. Oh, and there’s also the eldest’s wedding in August to plan. No biggie.

I did manage to squeeze in some off-the-grid time over the past couple of days. I went and spent some time with my old friend TJ, a wonderful Montana landscape painter. When I returned my kids asked me what I did. “I sat in a field and talked to my friend.” And I watched him create beautiful little pastel drawings of our surroundings. That’s pretty much heaven on earth.

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The Quarter Inch is supposed to be a commentary on current events, but since I went and sat in a field and talked to my friend, I have barely noticed much else.

I have briefly commented on Donald Trump’s felony convictions in the New York “hush money” case. If you missed it, in my mind the case itself was ridiculous and the convictions are travesty that will not survive an appeal. I have now noticed people posting things like this: I’ve never really been a Trump supporter, but after this weaponizing of the justice system I’m going to vote for him! That is a fascinating bit of psychology that provides a bit of a window into the depths of rank irrationality.

There is absolutely nothing about being convicted of sham charges that makes Donald Trump suddenly fit to be president. That’s the non sequitur of all non sequiturs. And since the other guy also isn’t fit, we need to make our peace with the fact that there is no good option and regardless of what happens this country is just going to have to ride it out. It is the least consequential election of our lifetimes.

I will not trouble you with another essay explaining my view that abstention is a perfectly legitimate course of (in)action. But if you’re looking for more on that, The Dispatch has unlocked two essays for your consideration. First, Matt Franck delivers what is essentially my view in his “Choosing Not To Choose.” Nick Cattogio then responds with “Choosing To Choose.” I think Franck has the better of the argument. Note: when Cattogio says “choose,” he means voting for Biden. And that is simply something I will never do, since Biden crosses every moral red line I’ve ever had. I will not vote for somebody who—oh, let’s just pick an example or two—advocates for abortion and the mutilation of the sex organs of children. That’s to say nothing of the cesspool of corruption Joe Biden and his family have been swimming in for decades. I mean, even if I thought, as Cattogio does, that Trump is some kind of unique threat to our constitutional order, I refuse to counter that threat with someone whose moral compass points directly south. But more than that, I simply do not believe Donald Trump has the focus or discipline to accomplish the destruction of our constitutional order or even make much headway in doing so. He might trash the place a bit, but he won’t be knocking down any supporting walls. We’ll survive, like we did last time.

Of course, he has to win first. And that might require votes that he won’t get from people like me, and it might mean that he has to run on something other than his own grievances. I wouldn’t be placing any bets.