When Carl Reiner asked Mel Brooks, “the Two Thousand Year Old Man,” what the principle means of transportation was in his day, he answered “fear” and went on to say that a person could run pretty fast when chased by a lion. From this perspective it’s inconsistent that voter turnout by the Democratic base is expected to be less than it was four years ago. OK, hope has a nicer ring to it than fear. I also concede that much, if not most of what we’d hoped for with the election of this president remains unfulfilled, in some cases not even attempted. But considering the alternative in this election, hope should be relegated to the back burner. At least until Wednesday!
If the Republican Party comes out of this election with the presidency, we can worry about more than what it openly advocates. Their numbers are decreasing from attrition and demographics so they’ll have to do something, shall we say unorthodox, to compensate politically. The Mitt Romneys and their even wealthier clones are not about to give up accumulating wealth. It’s an addiction. As elections go they really want to win this one and they’ve made quite an effort to suppress the votes of those who don’t see things their way. Whatever it takes to make their kind of electorate will likely become the order of the day. Remember white male landowners were good enough for the Founding Fathers.
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself” was good advice for the nation from FDR on March 4, 1933. But it applies to very few Americans, say about one percent, on November 6, 2012.
Addendum: My preceding letter was supposed to be the last before the election. I threw this one together tonight in a greater hurry than usual. On another matter I suggest that contrary to prevailing wisdom Obama could win the popular vote, but lose in the Electoral College.
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