Yknow, the United States is kinda like an old eighteenth century sailing ship, and

[struggle4progress]

most of the folk on board are passengers

There's lots of disagreement about the direction the ship should be sailing: some of the passengers think we should be headed East, others West; some don't care where the ship goes, as long as it's not the direction we're headed now; some just hope the ship doesn't sink, while others just want to chop holes in the hull and scuttle the old girl right now here in the middle of the ocean

On paper, the captain is in charge, but he doesn't actually man the rigging or pump the bilge or cook the mess, and the folk who actually do these things have their own opinions and don't always listen well to the captain, which may seems good (or not) depending on whether one agree with them (or doesn't)

Every other November, some of the passengers switch places with some of the crew, and there's a scheduled mutiny every fourth November. The hope is that the passengers will select a captain and crew who want to go where the passengers want to go and who actually know enough about sailing to get there -- but the reality is often somewhat different

In trying to choose captain and crew, the passengers must ask questions themselves tricky questions: Do I prefer someone who wants to go where I want to go but doesn't know jackshizz about sailing, or do I prefer a crackerjack seaman who wants to go somewhere I don't want to go? If half the crew wants to sail East and the other half West, should I hope we actually finally sail North or should I hope we actually finally sail South?

Over the years, the passengers have often chosen a captain who wants to sail one direction and a crew that wants to sail the other direction, or a captain who knows what he is doing and a crew that doesn't know what it is doing, or a captain determined to save the ship and a crew determined to scuttle it

And so we sail back and forth

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Excellent set of metaphors...

Recommended.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Hoist the mizzen tops'l.

Problem is, the rigging is made of rubber bands and the sails are made of toilet paper.

[Donnachaidh]

3. your analogy doesn't hold water

Seriously.

The key point you left out is the FACT that the captain is RESPONSIBLE for all the people on board. ALL of them. Not *just* the 1st class passengers.

And a ship's captain just doesn't *become* a captain - he has to work his way up, learning all the parts of the ship and how to handle them. While he might not spend decades doing that, he does have more than a working knowledge of the ship, and who does what.

And anyone who gets on a ship with a captain with no idea where he's going or why, is just plain stupid. Or crazy.

[JoePhilly]

6. Like the Pilgrams.

Hell, Columbus thought he was sailing to India.

[Donnachaidh]

7. Columbus wasn't aware of the Continent in between Spain and the Indian Continent

The Pilgrims knew they were going to the new world.

[JoePhilly]

9. They knew where they wanted to go ...

they did not intend to end up in Plymouth Mass.

In addition, their 1st voyage had to return to England.

[LWolf]

4. Those metaphors are excuses used to defend a captain who's

not taking the passengers to the destination they paid for.

[Keith Bee]

5. Too drunk to read more than three sentences

So...:shrug:

[treestar]

8. Really bad metaphor

If the world were a ship, we'd have to have a dictator (captain). Fortunately, the world is not that way. It's been proven over and over that we don't need a leader to obey. We have the rule of law and participate ourselves.