The Political Spectrum of The Long Island Expressway

It’s just an analogy, and all analogies have their limitations, but I do think the lanes of the Long Island Expressway at, say, 10PM, bear some semblance to the current political landscape in America.

We drive in the left when our pain has us thinking only of ourselves. Whether resentful of the place from which we’re driving, anxious about the place to which we’re going, or just unhappy about life in general, the left lane is home to our rebellion against social responsibility and solidarity, the place of humanity’s selfish endorsement of Cain’s rhetorical question.

The right lane is a funny place. We prefer it only when we’re at peace with God and with ourselves. A sense of security softens our outlook on everything, and we befriend the rule of law. But it’s also for when we’ve grown weary of the fight and no longer have the stomach for the battle. The right is the meeting place of the peacemakers and the cynical.

The center lane is for the dreamers and the idealists. Most of us like to consider ourselves moderate, but it doesn’t take long for us to resent the right for going too slow, and the left for driving too fast. The center lane is a challenging, uncomfortable place and few people last very long there.

The HOV is for the Independents. This is where we drive when we want nothing to do with the other lanes. We’re willing to drive slowly for the ally in front of us, or speed up for the bully behind us, so long as we remain unbothered by the masses of society.

Alas, all life comes in from the right lane. It is the sole responsibility of the right to manage the merge. Whether at peace, like parents open to life, or when wearily suffering fools gladly, the work of welcome burdens only the right. The left lane can cry out, “Let them in!” but the task always falls to those on the right, who reply, “We can't just let them all in at the same time. There’s a way to do this.”

Of course, it’s one of this world’s ironies that all life should leave from the right lane as well. Death comes for us all, and with it judgment. After flying in the left lane, content to imagine ourselves the architects of our own reality, there comes a time when we must merge, first through the purgatory of the center lane, and then into friendship with those on the right. Only then are we prepared to exit. +