CNN guest opinions

This one captures my sense of things:
Quote
Haroon Moghul: Pence's dishonesty is spiritually toxic, socially radioactive

When the five wizards arrived in Middle Earth many years ago, the shipwright Cirdan gave his Ring of Power to Gandalf, not the leading wizard, Saruman. Cirdan chose wisely: While Gandalf would rally men and elves against Sauron's evil, Saruman not only conceded to tyranny, but embraced it.

If there's a reason Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" endures, it's because it isn't really fantasy. It is a kind of scripture. I'm not claiming Donald Trump is Sauron. I am, however, arguing that we can get an insight into what happened to Mike Pence by seeing how great writers explore the effect of power on the human soul.

Sen. Tim Kaine repeatedly cited Trump's most egregious comments, but all Pence did was deny Trump ever said any such thing. We have a non-focus grouped term for that. Lying. Pence may have lied more than Trump did, and that's a historic achievement.

So whether Pence loses the debate in the court of public opinion is secondary. Whether he becomes vice president almost does not matter. Pence's dishonesty is not just spiritually toxic, but socially radioactive. If the top of your ticket indulges anti-Semitism, moots war crimes, mocks veterans, shames women, and mines Breitbart for campaign direction, then you're no different.

What difference does it make if you're not a racist, but you want a racist to become president? Donald Trump was the test God placed before Mike Pence, and he failed. That's so much worse than losing.

Haroon Moghul is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Policy. His next book, "How to be a Muslim," will be out in 2017.

You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.
R. Buckminster Fuller