Even more of what we don't want

You'd be surprised at how many situations can be dealt with via the negative. In just a little over a month, my fellow countryfolk will be playing democracy again, and I have the feeling that most of them (at least most of those I know) will simply be voting against the other guy. That's not what I'm talking about at all. Voting for Obama because you don't like Romney (or vice versa) is not the via negativa, it's good old-fashioned avoiding.

The via negativa is never just either-or. If you've got a system that really only allows for that, well you really haven't got much of a system, and it's time to start thinking about what kind you want ... at least you've made a first step when you recognize that only either-or choices is not what you want. That's closer to what I'm talking about.

As it is, either-or's are out. I mean, who really needs them? When are they really applicable? Why don't we have more third, fourth, fifth or hundredth choices. OK, maybe 100 candidates for President may be too many, but you get the point. Why is it that it's either Windows or Apple? White or brown sugar? Peas or corn? Diesel or unleaded? Why do we just settle for the choice of two? We've come a long way as a civilization, what with our industrialization and technological advances, but somehow we fail to see the real advantage in a little diversity, a range of options instead of a simple either-or.

To get more choices though, you have to know that you don't want just two, and you have to say it. My point is that if you want more than two, then you're already allied with all those folks who want three, those who want ten and those who want a hundred; that is, with everyone who doesn't want just two either. Sometimes I figure we're simply getting in our own way because we are so used to things being this way or that. It's time to get over this limitation, expand our horizons and maybe even get something done.

After all, whether we decide on three, five, or more choices for anything, we at least have the option to try them out and see how they work. It all starts with not wanting two. What we end up agreeing on can come in the course of talking, discussing, and even debating the various options we have. And one of the biggest advantages of all is the fact that it might just get us talking to one another again. Not a bad side effect, if you ask me.