For reasons that still confuse my Mother, I graduated college with a degree in political science. As a result, people that do not know me well enough yet ask me for my “insight” on political news stories. Unless you were living in a shed before COVID-19 hit, you are aware that one of the largest political news stories in the United States right now is President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic brought on by the 2019 coronavirus. When asked about this, my best reaction these days is to offer that it is a shame Donald Trump was never a camp counselor.
I spent the summers of my late teens and early twenties working at summer camps in Michigan. The pay was awful, the hours were never-ending, the work was often thankless, and I loved it. Given that you lived, ate, and slept where you worked — your daily 1–3 hour breaks and weekly 24-hour time off were magical. With the vigor of youth, you could cram 72 hours of living into each waking hour.
One week, my partner in weekend mayhem, Michael, and I were planning our upcoming 24-hour time off like it would become the inspiration for a future Kiefer Sutherland television show. Our goal was simple, go to Canada and legally drink in some bars. We settled on Windsor as our destination with Detroit as our chosen border crossing. There was some debate over the route, one was faster, the other used less gas. The argument got heated, insults about my car’s ability to get anywhere were made, and it’s possible Michael never becoming King of Scotland was briefly mentioned. Ultimately we selected the faster route because 24-hour time offs while magical, are still only 24 hours long.
We mentioned our plans to our friend Megan and invited her to join. It turns out she was also planning on going to Canada, but had planned to go to the much further away Sault Ste. Marie where she could pick up her girlfriend along the way and then stay at a family cottage to save money on a hotel room. We shared a common goal of wanting to go to Canada, but some other priorities regarding time, costs, and guests. Ultimately, we compromised, pooled our resources, and selected the Port Huron border crossing to travel to as a group. It was not as convenient as the Detroit crossing, but made picking up her girlfriend easier, and as a larger group, the per-person cost of a hotel was cheaper than her planned investment in gas. As an added bonus, we would be visiting a city in Canada called Sarnia, which was just close enough to Narnia to delight us. Victory at last — and then came Rog.
Our coworker, Rog, overheard our scheming and interjected that as long as we were going on a road-trip, we should join him on a trip to Mackinac Island. Now, Mackinac Island is a wonderful place — but it was not aligned with our plans to drink at bars in Canada. In fact, at 20, it interfered with our beverage plans completely. It is also not exactly next door or really in any way associated with Canada. It took Rog awhile to figure out his plans were completely unrelated. He interrupted meals with his demands, recruited campers to lobby us on his agenda, and even prevented us from getting into our rooms one night. But eventually he got the hint. Rog went on his separate and unrelated voyage, and we went on our merry way to wardrobe closets in Sarnia. We never saw Rog again…but that is another story (just kidding, Rog is as fine as ever).
This decision making pattern has repeated itself in my political work a lot. The Democrats have a shared goal and benchmarks, but some varying and sometimes competing viewpoints on the route to take. Democrats and Republicans often have shared goals — despite the rhetoric—but disagree on the benchmarks. And then, then you have the Rogs. People who want to take a discussion about gender and use it as a reason to say racial slurs on television. Michael, Megan, and I all wanted to go to Canada — but had some different ideas about how to get there. And then there was Rog wanting to go somewhere completely different.
Today, we are not wasting a 24-hour time off break — we are wasting time and ultimately that means we are wasting lives. It would almost be comical if the reality of the outcomes were not so tragic. Whereas even Rog ultimately understood that trying to make a 24 hour trip to Canada about Mackinac Island made no sense, people interjecting into the COVID-19 pandemic do not realize it is not about their right to own guns, control of the government, or any of the shenanigans we face daily in US politics.
Both political parties share a goal of getting this country through the pandemic. Some would like to make sure others are brought along as well, and others would like to make sure as little is done as possible to interfere with daily life. Both of those positions hold valid arguments — and that is the healthy debate playing out. When it works right — we get to our shared goals with a few additional victories for each side along the way. When it is not working as well — people like Rog are able to hijack the whole thing. Any politician responding to the protestors with guns or Confederate flags at the State Capitols are responding to the Rogs of our national politics.
I wish Trump had a more diverse set of experiences coming into this job. I am not suggesting being a camp counselor should be a requirement for becoming President — although I have heard worse ideas. There are many ways to learn about people like Rog and how to help manage those situations. Unfortunately, it does not appear President Trump has learned how to deal with the Rogs in his life and dangerously becomes Rog himself all too often. If only the outcome where as simple as a ruined 24-hour time off.