in your pre-programmed mind Tom. I'm sure it brings you much comfort.

Most of the world right now is passing by your delusions. It must be really confusing. The folks you latched onto in your political quest are back off to their insulated little enclaves reveling in the riches they stole from you and me and somehow you actually still believe they cared about your ass. To many of us Tom, their motivations were obvious from the start and yet somehow they managed to find these little core issues like guns, abortion, Jesus, and most of all fear that appealed to folks like you.

That they were so successful even with people that have studied the history of mankind is a puzzler to me. Every powerful tyrant has used one primary tactic to seal their authority, the ability to create the illusion of an "us" and "them". In this recent run-up it was American Christians against evil Muslims, godless communists, queers, socialists, welfare cheats. They're all lumped in together as this menace out there waiting to pounce on the "good people". In every case of tyrants taking over the end result is always that the divide between the haves and have-nots widened considerably.

This tactic was loud and strong from this huge network of media thugs with strong ties to the most radical within your party and, in the waning days of the last election, the rhetoric was becoming more and more hateful and violent. People like you, who tout themselves as analytical and balanced, were sitting back as all this was going on not saying a word in defiance to these cretins and often your talking points fit right in with their basic message.

So excuse us for being a bit alarmed at the possibilities when we were watching what should be seemingly caring and community-minded fellow Americans falling for this bullshit left and right and even supporting this burgeoning madness. Luckily, reason prevailed. Many of the brainwashed got a 2 X 4 to the head in the form of economic devastation and the power of popularity was yanked away from these greedy and immoral bastards.

You'll get your little victories in the upcoming years because there will be terrorist attacks, economic missteps, corruption and greed, and all kinds of challenges that will have no concrete solutions to them but overall the country is going to evolve at least a tiny bit in the right direction with an emphasis once again on intellectualism and compassion. That's all most of us ask for.

Art