The Political Smell Test (WARNING content & language may not be appropriate for all viewers)

When I watched this video for the first time, I laughed so hard I cried. I know it's immature, but I've come to terms with the 10 year old boy in me who never grows up. Any yet, even my inner-ten-year-old is increasingly alarmed at the likeness this video has to our current political reality. Everyday our country's vision is descending further and further into blindness. And tragically, instead of turning on the lights, we attempt to overcome the darkness by championing our sense of smell. Not tracking with me? Let me explain.

The corruption of Washington has never been more factually incontrovertible. Our leaders are immersed in a cesspool of secrets, lies, racism, xenophobia, injustice, cowardice, extortion, bribery, pay-to-play, optics and lawlessness. Wikileaks, cyber-hackers, youtube and facebook are filled with first hand accounts of how our political leaders are rigging the outcome of modern elections and portraying a story-line that is fictional--that Americans are rallying behind the two remaining presidential candidates. Democrats are paying hundreds of thousands of seat-fillers to make their convention appear unified. Republicans are half-heartedly endorsing their "lesser of two evils" candidates and it doesn't matter who you support... we can all see no one's hands are clean. Every day our newspapers, media, and social news-feeds reveal that our most senior leadership (and those vying for said leadership) are--at best--aiding and abetting unlawful behavior. At worst, our highest elected officials are ensconced in purposeful criminal avarice for personal enrichment at the peril of democratic governance. In short, every American now knows at the highest level--beyond a shadow of a doubt--our government is untrustworthy.

Which brings me to the political smell test. You see, our sense of smell is a wonderful and very powerful thing (in fact, it becomes even more pronounced when another of our senses is handicapped). Over our lifetime, we are given multiple and varying inputs as it relates to the political atmosphere. Family, media, college and religious organizations (to name a few) may tilt us one way or the other. We come to conclusions about political parties, cultural views and, which candidate we will support, largely from these unique inputs. And, however we come to our conclusions, we believe our opinions are anchored in something even more unbiased than these inputs : our ability to smell crap. Yep, Americans believe we have the unique ability to recognize when something or someone stinks... and we rely on this ability even more deeply than whatever social inputs may try to sway us. How else do you explain the fervent political buzz of shared opining which dominates all current communication & media? We all have an opinion and we all want the world to know.

Over the past few years, I haven't been a very active member of social media. It's more of a grocery store for me--a place I'd rather have my wife go because she has the amazing ability to weed through all the junk food and bring home the healthy good stuff. I love my friends and I like to know what's going on in their lives but lately I get too distracted by the plethora of political opinions obscuring the real you and the real me. I find myself getting angry with something you said, or something I wanted to say in retort and then I think, what happened to me? I was perfectly happy just moments before I saw that meme you posted, that video you linked to, those comments you left on someone else's page. But now I'm hot with quick witted remarks, and unimportant foolishness. My amygdala has been hijacked and I want it back!!

All of us want to showcase our ability to smell crap, so we point out bias where we see it. At first, we speak eloquently about this or that politician who is clearly more "smelly", thinking that justifies our support for their counterpart. But as we encounter opposing beliefs we get hijacked by our sense of smell and forget to employ our sight. We are not unique because we call a spade a spade. We are not special because we can smell a fraud in political candidates. The truth is : this election stinks so bad that we've all passed the political smell test with 100% accuracy. The problem isn't our sense of smell, it is our inability to see ourselves becoming spellbound in odor.

I am in full support of freedom. I love our constitution and it's protection of our speech & our right to articulate stinky smelling politicians. However, before you and I post another diatribe opposing some political candidate, let's take a look at ourselves and consider whether our opinions are becoming as stinky as the corruption we are against. You see, we cannot fix our country by pointing out it's problems any more... they are obvious to all. It is time we begin owning the problems as our own, and remembering what makes America great. Government by the people for the people. This means we ARE the government, and our politicians are a reflection of who we are. You may have aced the political smell test, but the personal smell test is much more difficult. You and I aren't very good at smelling our own BO (or BS), and we need to see ourselves first, so we can be part of the solution.

By all means, vote for whichever candidate you find to be the least smelly. And then please, please, please take a long hard look at yourself and ask the people around you, "do I stink?" Let me give you the answer ahead of time... yes, we all do. Then, let's turn on the lights in our own lives and do the real work of cleaning our hearts--of discord, jealousy, rivalries, divisions, factions and hatred--so we stop boasting about our ability to pass the political smell test while continuing to wander around in the darkness.