When to stop. When to go. When to speak. When to stay silent. When to fight like heck. When to just give in.

Circumstance is a cruel dictator. We know this instinctively and want nice, hard and fast, simple rules so we don’t have to adjust to circumstance. Problem being that the universe doesn’t work like that.

Telling the idiot that cut you off and nearly killed you both what an idiot he is a perfectly appropriate unless said idiot turns out to be your boss. Then it gets tricky – he’s gonna get himself killed but you don’t want to get fired. Decisions, decisions.

This is where principles come in. They aren’t hard and fast rules but they are strong guideposts for navigating the when something is okay and when it’s not. Principles aren’t like morals because they can be observed in variations dependent on circumstance. Morals don’t.

Murder is always wrong no matter how big of a jerk the guy is. Not killing innocent people is a moral good and circumstance won’t change that. Killing the jerk who is trying to kill you isn’t killing an innocent but killing in self defense isn’t always warranted. No matter how intent the guy is on killing you, if he’s on the other side of a locked door, armed with a super soaker and the cops are en route, killing him would not be okay legally or ethically.

And it doesn’t matter what he called your mom, you still can’t kill him. Principles can be as hard nosed as morals sometimes.

Fortunately, most of life’s quandaries don’t involve figuring out when to use a shotgun. Unfortunately, deciding when to shut your trap versus shouting from the rooftops can be just as daunting. Freedom of Speech is an awesome thing and we get kinda cocky about it. Having the right to say something doesn’t mean it is wise to say that particular something.

Principles are guideposts. They don’t change but what you do when you use them often does.

Confused? So is everyone else. Let’s try again.

Morals are the LAWS. These aren’t negotiable or changeable. Murder, theft and adultery will always be wrong. Killing an innocent person, taking something that is not yours nor is it essential for your immediate survival, betraying the person you swore to only be with – these aren’t gray areas. This is as black and white as it gets.

Principles are for navigating the gray. Self defense isn’t murder. Taking something when you can’t survive without it and it’s not possible in the moment to get that thing otherwise isn’t theft. Falling in love with someone new after your spouse has died isn’t adultery. On the surface, they are similar to their immoral counterparts but the details matter and change the equation.

Ah yes, the Devil is also in those details. Like I said, intent to harm you isn’t sufficient to justify self defense; there also has to be capability. Taking food from a cabin because you’re lost in the woods and dying isn’t theft; taking food from your starving friend is even though you’re both starving. Remarriage after widowhood is not adultery; remarriage to the guy you left your husband for is.

If the thing would otherwise be immoral but there is just cause to do that thing, it is generally principled to do so. There will be exceptions – life doesn’t actually come with a spinner and only one road. If the thing is otherwise moral but done for an unjust purpose, it is now immoral.

Translation: why matters. Justice matters. Mercy matters. You are responsible for sorting out the whole mess. Welcome to humanity, don’t step in the poop.

Of course, knowing what is and isn’t poop makes it a LOT easier to keep your toesies out of said poop. Morals, ethics, and laws help us categorize poop from non-poop; principles help us watch our step.

What does this have to do with politics? EVERYTHING. Politics is just groups making decisions BUT as those groups grow in size those decisions affect more and more people. A majority can be tyrannical. A minority can be just as tyrannical. What we use to guide those decisions will be a HUGE part in both how wise and how good those decisions are and how those decisions affect others.

The second dumbest thing in the entire Star Trek franchise is the idiot notion, attributed to the supposed to be logical Vulcans, the ‘the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few’. This might be valid if you’re in an already full lifeboat and in danger of those still in the water swamping the boat in their desperation.

Maybe. So long as there aren’t other, half empty boats still available, you might be justified in rowing away. But it’s moronic when applied to politics.

The many always outnumber the few. When the right to live is dependent on other people who don’t like you, numbers don’t matter quite as much, huh? The lifeboat is half empty but you are a third class passenger and all those folks are first class. Still want them deciding whether you live or die?

“The needs of the many” is just repackaging of the Tyrrany of the the Majority. For government or any political system to work for all its members, all its members must be equally represented. This is why that stupid Electoral College exists – The Founding Fathers did the best they could – to prevent the majority from gaining so much power that the minority would lose both recourse and rights.

You want to be president? Well, you probably need your head examined, but at the very least, you have to convince BOTH the highly populated cities and the less populated rural areas that you are worthy of their trust. Otherwise, you will end up a former presidential candidate and not President.

Both, not just one, decide if you get elected. The rural areas shouldn’t be able to always decide any more than the cities should. That delicate balancing act protects both from the tyranny of the other.

Until voters stop caring about right and wrong and just vote for their team, if they even vote at all.

Why would they do that? Apathy, confusion and uncertainty are the most common culprits. The public square isn’t someone else’s problem; it belongs to us all. Not sure what to do isn’t a good reason to do nothing; analysis paralysis is still paralysis.

But the real killer nowadays is confusion. We’ve raised more than one generation that has no clue how to navigate the gray; they are just told morals don’t matter because there are apparent exceptions.

Apparent but not real, these exceptions are deceptions. Generations of rudderless individuals who don’t have much of a moral compass or understand the value of a moral compass are making very moral decisions in the political sphere. They are just making really bad ones. No surprise there.

This isn’t the part where we give up and go home. This is the part where we roll up our sleeves and get to work. Very few people are truly content being rudderless. They don’t have to be. It’s not even close to too late,. But first those of us with rudders have to explain the value to those without. This isn’t an easy process, but it’s very doable.

People are hungry for direction. They’ll take it from a bad source if not shown a good one. There have been strong political forces undermining morality and principled living for their own purposes for a very long time. We’ve let them get away with way too much of that. The result is a huge number of confused people who want direction and guideposts in their lives but have no idea where to get good ones.

Left to their own devices, they will latch on to whatever they find. Then they will use those morals – or lack – to vote in representatives that will enact those values into our laws. This process is ongoing.

But it isn’t unstoppable. Just because people are sometimes stupid doesn’t mean that they have to stay that way. Nor is it true that because people tend to not want to admit that they’ve been wrong that they never can. Getting older is one long process of figuring out how stupid you used to be and how to stop being that stupid now. All humans do it. All humans can.

Freedom isn’t free. The price is eternal vigilance. Plato said it best: “The price of apathy in public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

Choosing to be moral people and active in the public square is what those who value the freedom we’ve inherited do. Know your morals. Understand the principles that guide you. and use them. Gradually, knowing when isn’t so tough after all and being a responsible citizen comes as naturally as brushing your teeth each morning. Besides, you have to.

Because the alternative is walking in poop and it really stinks.