You may be right.

And I REALLY hate to say this, but--the board is probably at its best when we attack the ideas but (whatever is within our power) not the people. For example, I try hard (very hard) not to say insulting things about the person who is president of the US, though I'm more than happy to say that certain policies are inane.

That would be easier if there was a single policy which was “nane”. I can’t think of one. Education? Shut it down, sue them bankrupt. Disease? Let 1,000 flower bloom. Defense? Spread classified info like it was the Fox & Friends morning show. Trade? Why trade? We can do it all! American exceptionalism!

Back in the before times, there was a small political movement building, it turned out (later) to be the Tea Party, although I didn’t realize it at the moment. I actually went to one meeting in the Howard Baker Center here in Tennessee; Baker being a long time senator, lauded across party lines, perhaps most famous for “What did the President know and when did he know it?” I assumed that a meeting in his named center would be of reasonable minds discussing governmental objectives.

Whew, was I wrong. It was the most absurd collection of misfits hooting and hollering and about awful how everything was and how we needed to destroy everything in order to “set the country on the right path”, never mind that they had all driven to the meeting in the $50,000 pick-up trucks, complaining about their near invisible tax rate. From that horrific meeting my understanding of this malodorous movement has only grown, and we see it now in full bloom: ignorants in thrall to sound bites and willing to take up shovels against “the elite”, who they blame for their (perceived) lot in life.

Sometimes a person should be attacked, at least by designation if not in person. On the other hand, both Caesar and Caligula learned the hard way that too much power wielded too carelessly can lead to a bad end. (I’m not sure if that improved things; I should check my history books.) In this case, however, there seems to be whole phalanxes of similarly viewed sycophants standing in line ready to take up the sword, so that solution probably wouldn’t help. I fear for the country and for the world economy, given the stupidity of the policies being thrown about so casually.

There, I said it. I feel better, thanks. This is so much cheaper than therapy.