Do vote, but don’t expect very much
The ongoing American presidential debates and our ancient Sages are not obviously connected, but the series of debates — 24 candidates vying for the Democratic nomination — evokes a well-known Talmud pericope.
Among the phenomena that will take place just before the coming of the Messiah, the Talmud (Sanhedrin 97a and Sotah 49b) lists pnei hador kipnei hakelev, literally: “the face of the generation will be like the face of the dog” — very cryptic. Some translate pnei hador as “the leaders of the generation,” which renders the phrase as: “the leaders of the generation will be like the face of a dog” — still quite puzzling. Among the most incisive readings is that of the legendary Rav Elchonon Wasserman citing Rav Yisrael Salanter: A dog may run ahead of its master, but when there is a fork in the road it waits to see which way the master prefers, and then runs ahead again — until the next fork in the road. Physically, the dog is in front, but he is not leading. The master, though he is behind, is actually leading.
So it is with today’s political leaders. They wait for the latest poll results before making policy pronouncements. They are not leaders but followers… of the polls. (They should be called poll-iticians, not politicians.) One leading candidate, for example, was anti-abortion ten years ago; today his position has “evolved,” and he is now pro-abortion, reflecting the change in public attitudes. What does he personally believe about the issue? Next question…
The debates are good theater, but ultimately they mean little. The candidates are actors with predictable, well-rehearsed lines written by their staffs. They are marionettes on a string, dolls of the ventriloquist. Do they have any convictions of their own? We will never know, because the words emanating from their lips are words orchestrated by others, designed for mass appeal.
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