The Off-Ramps Never Used

This is an old joke:

A very religious man was once caught in rising floodwaters. He climbed onto the roof of his house and trusted God to rescue him. A neighbour came by in a canoe and said, “The waters will soon be above your house. Hop in and we’ll paddle to safety.” “No thanks,” replied the religious man. “I’ve prayed to God and I’m sure he will save me.” A short time later, the police came by in a boat. “The waters will soon be above your house. Hop in and we’ll take you to safety.” “No thanks,” replied the religious man. “I’ve prayed to God and I’m sure he will save me.” A little time later, a rescue services helicopter hovered overhead, let down a rope ladder, and said: “The waters will soon be above your house. Climb the ladder and we’ll fly you to safety.” “No thanks,” replied the religious man. “I’ve prayed to God and I’m sure he will save me.” All this time, the floodwaters continued to rise, until soon they reached above the roof and the religious man drowned. When he arrived in heaven, he demanded an audience with God. Ushered into God’s throne room, he said, “Lord, why am I here in heaven? I prayed for you to save me! I trusted you to save me from that flood.” “Yes you did my child” replied the Lord. “And I sent you a canoe, a boat, and a helicopter. But you never got in.”

I am watching, right now, the British, offered an off-ramp by Jeremy Corbyn, and refusing it. Corbyn has been right in his life about almost everything: He was against every bad war, he was against cutting welfare, he was against privatizations, he was against bad trade deals, and bailouts, and so on.

More than this, he acted on that: He voted against them, spoke against them, marched against them. He has not taken bribes, he has not charged the taxpayer for fancy hotels or booze. He is a man of integrity who can reasonably be expected to do what he says.

Like all men of integrity, that means he won’t always tell you want to hear, but that’s the price you pay if you want an actual honest person in charge.

So, of course, Brits are going to elect May, a truly horrid woman who is complicit in taking wheelchairs away from the poor, and a thousand other things you can read about if you have the curiosity of a turnip and access to a search engine.

Many rowing boats, helicopters, and so on have been offered throughout my life. I remember the warnings about inequality rising from the mid 80s. I remember the warnings about climate change, also from the mid 80s. (They existed earlier, but I was too young.)

Candidates ran who were good on these things, including presidential candidates like Kucinich. They were laughed at and ridiculed. Everyone knows that you can’t actually tax rich people, forbid corruption, or not destroy the ecosphere’s ability to support human life for profit.

People screamed from the rooftops. Many many books were published. People went on TV. Huge marches occurred.

But candidates who would actually reverse bad policy were jokes. “Hahahaha. Only suckers want to do the right thing. He’s not a credible candidate, we have to vote for someone evil, just a little less evil than the most evil candidate!”

Hahahahaha.

The off-ramps were there. They were offered time and time again. And we refused them, time and time again.

At some point, the off-ramps will run out. In fact, they already have. All the off-ramps now lead to “OMG THIS IS SUCKSVILLE.” But the off-ramps coming up, and pretty damn soon, are labelled “First Level of Hell.”

The current catastrophes and the upcoming ones were all affirmatively chosen and then re-affirmed repeatedly by voting majorities or pluralities, and by the elites of every major country.

When you die, if there is a God, don’t ask him why he didn’t send help. Ask him why we didn’t accept it.

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