A "loose cannon" in nautical terms is one that breaks loose from its moorings on a ship during a battle or storm, which then has the potential to cause serious damage to the ship and her crew. Applying this expression allegorically or idiomatically, then, it describes an uncontrolled or unpredictable person who causes damage to their own faction, political party, or team, etc., to wit:
Jack is considered a loose cannon due to his volatile personality and his track record of being unable to maintain his composure.¹
I would say we have a few of those in our county's Republican Party, most notably among the male spouses of a couple of our female candidates for public office. They seem to think that their wives' increased visibility in the public square, by virtue of having highly publicized campaigns of their own, affords these husbands an opportunistic soapbox to loudly bloviate on just about anything that suits their fancy--often to the detriment of their own wives' political capital with the public.
My complaint with such behavior has nothing to do with abridging these guys' "free speech rights"--as is their frequent comeback--but actually has more to do with them not being such deliberate jerks! One of them uses the fact that he's from New York as a lame excuse for his big mouth. BFD! Excuse me, but is this supposed to mean he's a real badass or something? I'm sorry, but I'm not impressed. I grew up in South Tucson, and in ethnically/racially mixed neighborhoods with Blacks, Mexicans, Italians, and Serbians. I've got Serbian blood coursing through my veins, and we happen to start World Wars (any history buff can confirm this). In Nazi Germany during WWII we were locked up in Hitler's concentration camps right along with the Jews. Who the hell cares anyway?
I'd like to believe that I've got a Spirit-controlled temperament to mitigate against such natural tendencies (which these self-styled "tough guys" may want to look into for themselves)...but I digress here. Let me just offer this for their consideration:
My complaint with such behavior has nothing to do with abridging these guys' "free speech rights"--as is their frequent comeback--but actually has more to do with them not being such deliberate jerks! One of them uses the fact that he's from New York as a lame excuse for his big mouth. BFD! Excuse me, but is this supposed to mean he's a real badass or something? I'm sorry, but I'm not impressed. I grew up in South Tucson, and in ethnically/racially mixed neighborhoods with Blacks, Mexicans, Italians, and Serbians. I've got Serbian blood coursing through my veins, and we happen to start World Wars (any history buff can confirm this). In Nazi Germany during WWII we were locked up in Hitler's concentration camps right along with the Jews. Who the hell cares anyway?
I'd like to believe that I've got a Spirit-controlled temperament to mitigate against such natural tendencies (which these self-styled "tough guys" may want to look into for themselves)...but I digress here. Let me just offer this for their consideration:
He who is slow to anger is better and more honorable than the mighty [soldier], And he who rules and controls his own spirit, than he who captures a city. (Proverbs16:32 Amplified)
What these male spouses seemingly fail to appreciate and/or understand is that the public really doesn't give a tinker's damn about what they may think or say about anything, since they aren't the ones running for any public office. These campaigns are not about them or their opinions anyway! They're actually being quite selfish in stealing the spotlight away from their wives, who need to be given ample opportunity and space to establish their own public personas and relationships with their potential constituents. If these husbands truly loved their wives (more so than their own egos and opinions!), they'd keep their damn mouths shut, and let their wives stand or fall on their own merits--and let the public be the rightful arbiters of who they may want to represent them in the hallowed halls of government.
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¹ en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/loose_cannon
