The Political Siren's Song Nabs Two More

My upcoming trip to Yellowstone to photograph wolves and bears can't get here too soon.  For me, whether we actually see any or not, it will be pure, blissful escapism!

I need the break from the political soap opera that is now taking place.  It goes to show that even the "outsiders" will succumb to the siren song of politics.

It also shows that I'm a pretty poor judge of character.  I thought Carly Fiorina would be a great candidate for president but her campaign never caught on.  Mostly because the press is liberal, I think, and Hillary is their female of choice thus little coverage of Carly.

As for Ben Carson, his low key personality couldn't make any inroads against his more flamboyant competitors.

Carly disappeared for a time.  Carson stayed in until last week when he finally admitted the handwriting was on the wall and it didn't favor him.

Now it seems they both want to be players if not viable candidates.  How do they do that?  Apparently the easiest way is to endorse a candidate and become a surrogate campaigner.  Oh my.  Who to support and what was their price?

Carly chose Cruz.  Does she have any idea who this man is?  To me he's more frightening than Trump.  Now I understand her rational.  After what Trump insinuated about her I wouldn't expect her to jump on his circus train, but still, Cruz? Maybe she's vying for that V.P. slot after all. She denied that as a goal as long as she was an active candidate, but now who knows?  She'd be powerful at keeping the negatives about Hillary front and center.

Now, what about Carson?  He endorsed Trump.  Two more opposites would be hard to find.  What was his price?  Health and Human Services would be a good fit.  Is that the deal?  When asked how he could endorse Trump after what was said about him he brushed it off as it just being politics.

Well, there you have it.  Two candidates  of whom I thought highly were lured by a siren song only politicians can hear.  It seems this time around the more incomprehensible you are the better you do. The lust for power and the lure of the adoring crowds is as much of an opiate as opium itself.

Now what?  I've lost my optimism.  I may be spending more and more time in Yellowstone or photographing petroglyphs in the southwest.  Thinking about them, as a sort of newspaper of the ancients, I wonder if being able to decipher the markings would be great or not. We might learn that back hundreds of years ago people had the same disillusionment with their leaders as we have today.

Maybe it's better we not know.  We'd not have leared from it anyway. People are people and we continue to make the same mistakes over and over.  It is probably one of our greatest shortcomings.