Rules for Intersections: A Thought about This Political Season

When I was a little boy learning to cross the street, I received some timeless guidance: Stop. Look both ways. Proceed with caution.

Later, when I was learning to drive, we applied those same three simple rules to intersections: Stop. Look both ways. Proceed with caution.

Today, three extraordinarily busy intersections require the same sage advice. The three crossroads are the intersections of Republican Road and Democratic Drive, Wall Street and Main Street, and Church Street and State Street. The same wise counsel would serve us well at these junctions: Stop. Look both ways. Proceed with caution.

The presidential and vice-presidential debates leave me wondering who is telling the truth? Their presentations abound with obscenely large numbers, gratuitous claims of impressive track records, and nearly scandalous accusations of their opponents’ same records. Republican Road and Democratic Drive is a perilous intersection, to say the least.

Recent financial news highlights the dangers resident at the corner of Wall Street and Main Street. Seems the “greed” light has been on for all roads leading to this juncture. The resulting collision has been particularly disastrous for folks who failed to wear their seatbelts even while they “pushed the pedal to the metal.” We have not seen the full measure of the pileup on our financial highways yet.

One of the most confusing intersections has been where Church Street meets State Street. Most of the time, these roads appear to be on parallel courses, widely separated, and we assume they never meet. In fact, societal engineers have been working for decades to redirect one or both of these roads as if they could somehow eliminate any connection between the two.

What if Church and State Streets are actually partners, corridors that may even share the same pavement from time to time? What if our failure to navigate and direct our people with better sense and cooperation along these foundational paths is the culprit that has produced the violent congestion at these other intersections?

Over the years, I have learned that safe passage through busy intersections often requires aids and guides. Children learn to cross the street at the corner under the direction of a monitor or, even better, with their hands in Mom or Dad’s hands. Traffic flows more safely and freely when facilitated by volume-appropriate directors – Yield or Stop signs, stoplights, or a police officer directing traffic.

Here’s the best direction I can find for crossing the intersections we face today: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12).