Hope and Reason

So, a Black man is president, the Democrats have a maj-
ority in both the House and the Senate, and many pro-
gressive groups are redoubling their efforts to direct
attention to US American injustices. Full speed ahead
then? Unfortunately, no. The violently ignorant are
still being both violent and ignorant, as they have been
for the last three decades. The Culture Wars are not
over yet.

How much clearer could it be that the (for-profit) insur-
ance companies are delighted that so many of the
ignorati are backing them rather than a liberalizing gov-
ernment seeking to reduce these same companies' prices
for the benefit of all?

When i was young, political analysts used to say that
people voted their pocketbooks. No longer, and not for
a very long time---at least for the 51 or 52 percent of the
electorate who vote conservative. For the last three dec-
ades all a guileful politician has had to do to gain rabid
adherents is to praise Jesus and salute the flag. And now
they no longer need do even that much. Today all they
have to do is say "big government" and mobs with torch-
es and pitchforks are ready to do their bidding.

There is no reason involved here at all, only the torren-
tial hew and cry of the logically challenged (and the
terribly frightened).

Back in the '70s a woman wrote a book on how to be sub-
missive to your husband (The Sensuous Woman?) It was
a nation-wide best seller! Scary, but it turned out to be
the beginning of the end, thank heavens. Nowadays
young women don't have to call themselves feminists;
rights are taken for granted (altho of course the battle
isn't over yet).

Hopefully the same will prove true of present-day con-
servativism. Even tho that philosophy has proven itself
to be morally bankrupt, people still cling to it as to a
sinking ship. Perhaps it's their last hurrah; i certainly
hope so. Their mean-spiritedness has dragged our
country down in ways that we may never fully recover
from.