A story about volcanoes.

I want to invite you to join me for story time. There is a small nation built at the base of a volcano. Every year, many of the people would be sacrificed to the god of the volcano to ensure that the volcano would not erupt and that the harvest would be bountiful. Sometimes the volcano erupted anyway. Sometimes the harvest was lean. It did not seem to matter that the sacrifices had been made. But the people were sure that the sacrifices must continue. All the many priests would gather and try to divine the will of the volcano and argue among themselves about how best to please the volcano. Maybe the sacrifices had been made in the wrong season. Maybe we had sacrificed the wrong people. Maybe we hadn't sacrificed enough people. Maybe we simply lacked faith in the volcano. They could never agree. The only certain thing was that the sacrifices must continue. Soon it came time to select a new leader in the nation. One man said that he would sacrifice one thousand people to the volcano in the coming year. He said that it was good to sacrifice people to the volcano. He said the volcano was great and powerful, that it provided such bountiful harvests. He said it was the best volcano in the world and it was right to make sacrifices to it. He said he would be careful to only sacrifice the right people to the volcano; the people who did not work hard enough to please the volcano, the people who did not love the volcano, the people who did not belong here. He said the sacrifices must continue. His supporters cheered for the sacrifices and agreed that they were good. They said that people who did not work hard to please the volcano deserved to be sacrificed because they were lazy. They said that people who did not love the volcano deserved to be sacrificed to show them the volcano's might. They said that people who were not born here deserved to be sacrificed because they were living off the bounty given by the volcano. They wore hats that said MAGMA to honor the volcano and they were red because that is the color of lava. They said the sacrifices must continue. Another man who would be the ruler said that it was a great tragedy that we sacrificed so many people to the volcano. He said that many people who did work hard and who did love the volcano and who did belong here had been sacrificed to the volcano and that was a great shame to the nation. He said that he would work hard to ensure that the wrong people were not sacrificed to the volcano. He would protect those who worked hard and loved the volcano and who were born there. He said that he would only sacrifice nine hundred people to the volcano. After all, as tragic as it is, the sacrifices must continue. His supporters said that it was indeed a great shame and a great tragedy that anyone should be sacrificed to the volcano, but they agreed that somebody must be sacrificed. And they said that it was good that he would protect those of them who worked hard for the volcano and those who loved the volcano and those who were belonged here because surely those people did not deserve to be sacrificed. And they said that it was good that he would sacrifice only nine hundred people to the volcano, because that is one hundred people who might be saved. And they said that they would save who they could, but the sacrifices must continue. But there were those who didn't support either man becoming the new leader. They said that it IS a great tragedy that people are sacrificed to the volcano. But it is not only a shame to sacrifice those who work hard and who were born here and who love the volcano, it is a tragedy to sacrifice ANYBODY to the volcano. They said that we should stop worshiping the volcano as if it were a god. They said the sacrifices must NOT continue. This was a shock to the supporters of the first man and of the second man. The supporters of the first man said that these people didn't love the volcano; that they HATED the volcano and the nation. They said that when their man became the leader, these volcano haters would surely be sacrificed and it would be good. They said the sacrifices MUST continue. But the supporters of the second man were angrier still. They said that these people MUST support the second man; that if they didn't then the first man would win and it will be all the dissenters' fault. Surely they can see that he is better than the first man? And the dissenters said that they could see that the second man was better than the first. The first man believes the sacrifices are good. Surely he will make hateful decisions that compound our suffering, but the second man cannot imagine a better way than sacrifice, surely he will make foolish, shortsighted decisions that compound our suffering also. I do not want a leader who wants sacrifices, but I also do not want a leader who cannot imagine anything better. Being better than the first man is small solace when they both believe that the sacrifices must continue. And the supporters of the second man said that the dissenters were selfish. They said that they were willing to let one hundred people die who the second man would save all on their foolish gamble. They said that the dissenters did not care about lives at all; that if they did then they would support the second man. And the dissenters said that they did love life and that was why they could not support the second man. They loved the lives of the nine hundred as much as the one hundred and they must fight for them as well. And the nine hundred who will be sacrificed next year and the year after. Because if they support the second man, the sacrifices will continue. And the supporters of the second man said that the dissenters were foolish. They said that it was dangerous to stop the sacrifices. They said that there was no other option. But the dissenters said that there were other nations who did not sacrifice to the volcano and they had not been destroyed. But the supporters of the second man said that those nations were full of hardship and suffering. The dissenters said that THIS nation is full of hardship and suffering. And while we cannot speak to the hardships in nations we have not lived in, when those people tell us about their country, they do not tell of the suffering you suggest. Mostly they talk about how nice it is to not be sacrificed to a volcano. But the supporters of the second man said that it was all propaganda and it could not work. The sacrifices must continue. And the supporters of the second man said that the sacrifices ensure a bountiful harvest; that without them there will be no crops in the fall. And the dissenters said that isn't how volcanoes work and anyway they weren't at all concerned with the bounty of the harvests. No matter how bountiful or poor the harvest was, the lords would take it all for themselves and the people would receive only their dole of millet either way. The dissenters were no longer willing to die to fatten the local lords. But the supporters of the second man could not imagine a better way, so they said the sacrifices must continue. And the supporters of the second man said that the real power lies with the council, not the king. If they are given time, they can also take the council, fill it with more people like them. And the dissenters asked if those councilors would be like the second man. Men who cannot see a better way. Men who still would sacrifice us to the volcano. And they asked what good that should be to them, to say that they will fill the council with people who say the sacrifices must continue. I don't know how this story ends. Some of the dissenters will support the second man, I'm sure. Some will not. They ALL will be blamed if the first man wins.I still don't know what I would do. I don't know what is right to do. There is no winning move. There is no end goal. There is only supporting the man who offers slightly less death while the MAGMA party continues to offer more and more frightening candidates. This incrementalism does not lead to justice, it only treads water. We have created a human grist mill; a machine to kill those not a part of the hegemony. And we are told to be satisfied when one party offers to build a hand rail. I am sore afraid. And I do not think I can bear another November. OH! Also both of those men are rapists. I couldn't work that into the story, but it's important. Trump and Biden are both rapaists.