The moral gut check is on us

Amid the panned rhetoric and mutual character assassinations sifted forth by candidates and media this forgettable election cycle, a priceless nugget of truth will be uncovered: The American morality gauge. What vein will we follow to find our fortune?

With ballot in hand, we can insist in our private minds that our collective consciences are not auctionable to the highest bidder. That gender is not a factor this time around ... just as race pitched no tent, nor was grubstaked in the previous election.

We can place on a sensitive scale whether a time-worn, all-too-familiar “insider” carries more assurance than an oddly new “outsider” bottled in nitroglycerin. Opposites. Contrasts. The ticket is a littered minefield of them.

What we have is a sobering moment in these horrid political times to stare into a muddied mirror.

A sunrise or sunset moment to assay which president-to-be merits the nod. Which one is less tarnished, less fickle? The accused womanizer packing a load of fool’s gold or the granite face from Washington still scratching for power?

It’s a moral gut check, neighbors. Let us hope we are not ambushed by a heartless watching world as we slap our jackass into town to claim our fortune.

Gary Vinson

Kalispel