Hamlet has to work out his own salvation in fear and trembling; he has to make a moral decision, in a complex situation where he cannot rely on cut-and-dried moral principles, or on the conventional code of the society in which he lives; and on his choice depend the fate of the people he loves and the fate of the kingdom to which he is the rightful heir.

— Kenneth Muir
“Shakespeare and the Tragic Pattern”

Indeed.

I believe we have reached the point in politics where it is nothing but theater, but not the kind that is remotely entertaining or humorous. In fact, like Shakespeare, it is quite dark.

The leftists among us, who espouse to reject hate, are hate-filled to the point of boiling over.

The leftists among us who espouse to champion diversity, aim to silence any voice that dissents from theirs.

The leftists among us who espouse to be the voice of the oppressed and down-trodden, take actions that belie their words and only further deepen dependency, poverty and despair.

In discussing Ronald Reagan’s background as an actor before becoming president, George Will called out the left for their own particular brand of political theater in “Suddenly,”  his brilliant, 1990 look at the American idea:

“Two of (the 20th) century’s greatest leaders of democracies, Churchill and de Gaulle had highly developed senses of the theatrical element in politics. FDR did too. So have evil leaders in the age of mass effects; Hitler, Mussolini and Castro all mastered ceremonies of mass intoxication.

“A political actor, be he good or evil, does not deal in unreality. Rather, he (or she) creates realities that matter – perceptions, emotions, affiliations. An actor not only projects, he causes his audience to project certain qualities – admiration, fear, hatred, love, patriotism, empathy.”

The left, over a period of approximately seven decades, has worked hard to create a new reality. One in which people are subdivided into groups based on multiculturalism, envy and an “us vs. them” mentality.

Flush with perceptions, emotions and affiliations, an entire generation has been lost to bombardment from the left, attempting to steer the nation in a radically different direction, reshaping the minds of our youth to embrace their leftist ideology. To see themselves as victims of some kind or another at the hand of the evil imperialist empire that is America, and to see the liberals, the progressives, as the ones who will rescue and save them from the very country that has offered more freedom and prosperity than any other country in the history of mankind.

We have reached a point, 24 years after Will wrote his book, and more than 400 years after William Shakespeare penned “The Tragedy of Hamlet,” where a candidate like Mike Michaud – who was absolutely involved in the production and dissemination of a vulgar campaign video piece, and as the ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, and chairman and ranking member on the Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health, was culpable in the Veterans Administration scandal where our veterans died waiting for care – is the left’s choice of a leader, capable and deserving of governing a state. How can this be seen as anything other than theater?

Unfortunately, it’s our reality. A real-life play that is being rolled out in the living rooms and kitchens across Maine, affecting our children and our future. The result of us frogs having been set into the slowly warming water decades ago.

If people actually buy the theater that Michaud and every “progressive” candidate is selling this November, buy the idea that it is the left that will save us from ourselves while at the same time wielding the very destruction they are claiming to save us from, then the fate of our kingdom and the people we love may very well be sealed.

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Julie McDonald-Smith lives in North Yarmouth. She is a registered nurse, former Capitol Hill staffer, and former chairwoman of the Cape Elizabeth Republican Committee. Her column appears every other week.