Jaw-droppingly Obvious!

Maybe I shouldn't do it. Spend all of my voice of reason / voice of calm capital in one sitting, that is. But AAAARRRGGGH! How can 50% of America think it's OK????

I can understand, really I earnestly can, how a SMALL MINORITY of the people can believe that America ought to assert its sole superpower status to create a global empire of world domination for the good of everyone.

I can understand, really I earnestly can, how a SMALL MINORITY of the people can believe that the magic of free market forces is almost sufficient . . . with a minimum assist from industry appointed regulators to give us corporations that satisfy our worldly needs and take care of the running of the planet.

I can understand, really I earnestly can, how a SMALL MINORITY of the people can believe that the ONE true faith that has brought them personal contentment and assures them of eternal bliss is sufficient guidance for our leaders to deal with all the complexities of the world today.

I can understand, really I earnestly can, how a SMALL MINORITY of the people can believe that bankrupting our government so that we're forced to privatize everything that isn't military, will improve everything by putting them in the hands of efficient corporations instead of the wasteful bureaucrats.

I can understand, really I earnestly can, how a SMALL MINORITY of the people can believe that most scientists and educators are part of a dangerous intellectual elite whose aim is to scare our citizenry with predictions of environmental doom and corrupt our children with libertine ideas.

I DON'T EVEN BEGRUDGE these minorities their beliefs. They are heartfelt and sincere; even pure and noble, though in my view frighteningly mistaken. But taken together, the minority that believes ALL of these things must be vanishingly small, and yet these are the voices that have the ear of the current administration and much of the leadership of the Republican party. For the most part they are not even hidden (check out the top three links in the "Links & Articles" section to the right), though other messages are emphasized.

I don't pretend that I'm excited about Kerry. He does waffle a bit, and he is uninspiring. I'd rather prefer the younger Kerry who testified in front of Congress and at least seemed passionate about his beliefs. But the older Kerry is more tempered, and he is, at least, reasonable. Why isn't it jaw-droppingly obvious what we should do come November?

. . . I understand the 10 or 15 percent. They should vote as they earnestly believe. But what's up with the other 35 to 40 percent? Don't they see? Hadn't we better tell them? There's only two months left. Maybe I've misjudged and no great harm will come from another four years of what we have now. But I'm not willing to sit on my hands and hope, just in case.