Snowball’s Chances

In warm climates ice and snow melt quickly if they even form at all. Like Phoenix, Arizona, snow rarely appears; when it does it melts quickly making for short, almost fairy-like memories for the very young.

Elsewhere throughout the globe, climates are more variable and rarely warm enough to preclude snow, ice and accompanying thaws. So it is with seasons. Some are primarily hot while others cold. Still different zones of the globe have three seasons, and still others have four. Hot and cold with two intervening periods of warm to mark transitions.

Now there are those who believe in heaven and hell. One wonders if you can indulge in only one, or if both must be experienced to make the other possible. But that is a debate for another day.

Lindsay Graham, Senator from South Carolina, fashions himself a climatologist, a political ideologue, a foreign affairs specialist, a conservative, a republican, and evidently many other ‘things’. He recently mixed all of his roles together when he exclaimed: “Obama’s Iran deal has the same chance of being approved by Congress as a snowball’s chance in hell.”

I must admit admiring Graham’s stubbornness. He is a man with a mission. He denies global warming. He asserts oil is the province of America and thus Middle Eastern politics is left only to America to broker so oil flows freely to feed American interests. He also believes in the holy writ of nuclear weapons, military might, and the eternal truth that only war settles issues among nations.

Now, perhaps I paint him too rigidly, too pejoratively. Recall this is the man who singlehandedly advised John McCain on international affairs while he pursued the presidency two elections ago. Even then the two old men were viewed often whispering in each other’s ears the script of the moment in the Middle East. John got it wrong then. Because he uttered the words told him by Graham. Yes, Lindsay got it wrong and slipped it to McCain who then got it wrong. One plus one does equal two. The math works out.

Today the guru Graham feels the world runs the way his own mind runs. In the rut of war and mighty weapons, Graham seems to think that no logic will ever penetrate the minds of those he defines as his enemies.

And so, breakthrough thinking has no roost for Lindsay. No negotiations are ever trustworthy. Foreign affairs must be viewed by him as ‘you do as we say or we don’t pay you.’

I think the peoples of the world have a different take on this issue. I think they have faith and trust in others and the logic of life. I think people believe in possibility. And that makes peace possible.

America is not the judge and jury of global disagreements. It is not the sole protector of peace or even the image of what that peace looks like. That is the province of everyone else on the face of the planet.

That is why I think the script has changed. And that is why I feel certain that republicans have lost their way and will continue to lose national elections.

Iran has stated it is negotiating with world powers, not Congress. Amen to that. Iran has paid a dear price for going its own way too long. The world community has moved on and advanced. Iran has stagnated in all matters. They wish to return to global citizenship. They want to resume a life with promise and peace. The same goes for the far east, China, Russia and all of Europe.

I wonder why McCain and Lindsay remain so mired in their musty reveries. The boat has already left the harbor. No train will catch up with it. Nor an airplane land on its decks.

The good senators need a wake up call lest they miss the next chapter of history’s storyline.

April 21, 2015