While They Sleep

A return to the larger matters. Start with Charles Pierce:

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/obama-campaign-2012-8583284

I read on a lot of liberal blogs that Obama is so far superior to Mr. Romney that there's no way he can lose. If one is a rational, grounded citizen, particularly with a memory longer than, say, 1994, it simply seems inconceivable that yet another Republican Administration could be allowed into office. Romney is George W. Bush cubed. It's simply amazing. He's the same guy, the same arrogant, rich, know-it-all we saw in Bush, the same utter belief in money. Plus, Romney has always believed in himself, in his own judgment. The dog-on-roof story is important mostly because he still stands by it. "He was having fun up there."

Meanwhile, there is a states-rights counterrevolution grinding on in many key presidential election states. Just look at Wisconsin, or Michigan, or Tennessee, or Virginia, or Florida, or Ohio. Laws are being passed which will limit access to the polls by voters who tend to vote Democratic. Here in North Carolina, the likelihood of Obama winning again is not high. (An interesting bell-weather will be Tuesday's upcoming primary, where a nasty "whack the queers" constitutional amendment embellishes the ballot like the star on the Xmas tree. So-called "gay marriage" is already illegal in NC. Now we're asked if we want to make it unconstitutional. A small ray of hope: in my little town there are some signs in yards saying "Another Family Against the Amendment," and "The Amendment is Bad for Children." Maybe that means this horrible idea will lose. Maybe that will mean there's more tolerance and good will left in the North Carolina electorate than one might think--surely a good thing for Mr. Obama, who represents those values in far greater degree than Mr. Romney.

The fact remains. America is an either/or democracy. One of the poles of that dichotomy now believes in destroying the country as we know it--destroying the compassion that Roosevelt and the various Democratic Administrations (and even in some ways the Nixon Administration) built into the on-going history we all are living. To have one of the two parties so radicalized, so destructive, so... well, lost. That is a very dangerous thing for all of us in an already dangerous world.

I hear rustling in the kennel. The Houdahenians awake. They know nothing of these matters, but we're down to the last can of cat food around here, and it's 8 miles to town.

[You can get the calendar and lots of other good stuff at chessieshop.com]