Then, there are the self-appointed "traffic moderators." These are not necessarily the elderly and infirm - they can usually be spotted and rather easily avoided. I'm referring to the jamokes who manage to get in front of you, either because you had a momentary lapse of reason and were nice enough to let them in or they blatantly and maniacally cut you off, then proceed to drive precisely two miles below the posted speed limit.
There always seems to be some sort of Christian symbol affixed to the back of their vehicle, usually an oil burning 1983 Toyota Corolla pollution spreading hazard or a 2006 Honda minivan. The license plate generally starts with WWJD or IPRAY or some other such religious braggadocio that is wholly inappropriate on a state-issued emblem.
When asked why they insist upon holding up traffic by driving below the speed limit, the response is some lunacy about how it's against Jesus and the Bible to break traffic laws, and they're afraid to go all the way up to the legal limit because they might inadvertently accede the allowable speed. (I am not making this up - more than one good Christian has told me this, including my dear, departed Mother who once tried to get me to drive the minimum posted speed on a Chicagoland expressway while in heavy traffic.)
If you think about it, there were a lot of folks whose religious points of view changed in the early years A.D.
So, whatever the local preacher or the favorite television evangelist says is followed as if it were written in stone. The true believer adheres to the message as put forth by the person doing the talking with the idea the words are coming directly from Jesus Christ's lips through that human vessel.
If the message is never drive so much as one mile over the speed limit, lest you get left behind come the rapture, then damn the non-believers and drive below the limit.
When the message is send more money to this ministry, then send all you have!
There are still messages floating around that womenfolk are lower than men, and thus are to be subjugated as lesser beings.
And most importantly, whomever it is deemed proper and righteous to vote for had better receive your vote - Glory Hallelujah!
Of course, politics really makes for lemmingistic behavior amongst humans.
Take your basic Democratic or, worse yet, Republican gathering. Such events are little more than the deification of an individual whom nobody at the venue knows anything about (other than those behind the curtain).
The Republican Party is so frightened that it will lose its stranglehold on the Senate and House come November that the rhetoric of fear is getting ever more idiotic and intense than the last two election years.
This past week the American Legion held its 88th Annual National Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It was a sterling example of why I make it a personal policy to never join anything unless the end result will be a paycheck.
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