Nobody Knows

  “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics." This bit of whimsy is most often attributed to Mark Twain. Mister Twain insisted that the quote originated from British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. 

Whomever first uttered these words or committed them to paper is the person I have to thank for my ongoing attitude to the emails flooding my inbox each day. Depending on which one I open first, I might believe that I am contributing to the almost certain obliteration of the MAGA movement. If I click on one up the line, I might discover that the Harris campaign is struggling to stay afloat and my twenty dollars will go directly to keeping the lights on. 

The truth is that there is no objective truth. We can thank the adjudicated rapist and former game show host for that. Polls taken around this coming election do not begin to describe all the vagaries surrounding the contest. The suggestion that there are still "undecided voters" that might tip the balance one way or the other seems patently ridiculous. Those who will make a choice have already done so. The skewed results being reported by this firm and that network reflect only the sad ambivalence created by the insurrection of January 6, 2021. 

There are few, if any Americans who were around back then who expect that the night of November 5 will bring a clear and decisive winner to this race. If the past few weeks have taught us anything it's that counting ballots will be only the beginning. Numbers, as we have learned, mean very little. Which is why the former game show host fixed the game to end in his favor by stacking the Supreme Court with "Justices" friendly to his grift. Those who drank the Kool-Aid back in 2016 for the most part have not altered their views. Sure, we get stories of anomalies like the guy who threw away his red baseball cap once he realized that he had nothing to gain from wearing it. Just like those frightened men who talk a big game but are still terrified of the notion of passing the highest office in the land to a woman. 

Meanwhile, we must all take comfort from the words not of Disraeli or Twain, but of screenwriter extraordinaire William Goldman who once said, "Nobody knows anything." Hold tight folks, it's going to be a bumpy couple of weeks. 

Or more.