I remember making the observation many years ago, that there’s this “ether” — an intangible object, but an object nonetheless, with a singular state. Only liberals can see it. Conservatives are more accepting of the St. Augustine observation that “wrong is wrong even if everyone’s doing it, right is right even if no one is doing it.” Or alternatively: There is no my-truth your-truth, there is only the truth and then a bunch of opinions.

But liberals believe in the one object with one state. As in: Darn that Donald Trump, he made it okay to be racist or whatever. So there’s a kiosk somewhere that unifies us all; the central oracle dishing out verdicts on “this is okay” and “that other thing is not okay.”

At that time I had a gadfly account, consisting of some undisclosed number of persons sharing a password, and over my protests. I would ban them a year or two later. In the meantime, they read about this and started using the “I win the argument because I don’t understand what you’re saying” maneuver, pretending “ethereal” and “object” were contradictory descriptors.

And this is the part that fascinates me. The kiosk, or ethereal object, exists somewhere. The liberals may not be consulting it all the time, but they come up with these issues as if the reference is being spoiled. Call it what you will, ether, object, kiosk, oracle, egregore, virtual reference manual; it catalogs the properties that are our prevailing culture and this is supposed to affect us in some way. As various high profile people, good and bad, have an effect on it.

This concept surfaces in the silly things they say now and then. Like: Such-and-such a person or organization or institution is setting the clock back on women’s rights or something. “The clock.” It must be affixed to something somewhere. With the wrong hands setting this clock, it becomes “okay” or “not okay” to think certain things.

You can tell liberals believe in this even though they don’t consciously realize they believe in it. This “object” is not truth itself, because it’s subject to manipulation by mortals. The truth in which conservatives believe, is beyond that; “water is wet” and it doesn’t matter how many people think it isn’t. Liberals are far more excited, even agitated, about their belief that there are many different “genders,” than conservatives are about their belief that there are only two. To the liberal, this is a social movement, whereas to the conservative it’s something that simply is. It doesn’t become an issue until a man invades the private bathroom space of a little girl.

Liberalism has changed with our higher standard of living, and with the advancement of technology. We have more liberals now, and more strident ones, because it’s an easier proposition to go cradle to grave without one’s judgment being truly tested. We can make mistakes now without ever being aware we made one. No danger to life or limb. So nothing to keep us in check.

Trump is not making the liberals angry. Neither are you and neither am I.

What sets them off is their knowledge of three things.

The first is that this “ethereal object” they seek to manipulate, is quite a different thing from truth itself. “Water is wet” is truth itself. We don’t bicker about that. It’s not up for voting, argument, rebuttal or appeal.

The second is that, to the extent the object exists, it exists as a request and not a rule. None of us have to follow it. Many don’t. “They’re married even though they’re of the same sex” is something you can choose to recognize, or not to recognize. It doesn’t matter what the law says. It doesn’t matter how the Supreme Court rules. We can all think what we want.

The third is that other people have an effect on it. This is why every moment Trump is in office and Republicans are running things, is a source of angst. If it could end tomorrow that would be good for them, but it would be better if it could end six o’clock tonight. Each minute is an agony. They want to retreat into the comforting embryonic sack of one book of rules, one object.

I myself can’t do it. I can’t roll with the changes when the “one object” flips around, as it sometimes does. It’s not like I’m being punished for each bad decision I make; I’ve made many, and haven’t been punished for all of them. I don’t work around corn harvesters or grain silos and I’m not in a position to have my arm ripped out by the roots if I make a mistake. I’m just lazy. Truth has something to do with what I do, and I change my mind slowly. I can’t say Kamala Harris is not to be mentioned one day, and the next day she’s the answer to all our problems. Every now and then this “object” demands its followers turn on a dime, hairpin-like, and I can’t do it. Too much thinking for myself, I suppose.