didn't realize at the time that I was coming down with something.

That being said, the tendency -- from both sides! -- for the last forty years (that I've seen; Dad had it another thirty before that) has been that for any problem, the Solution is to increase the power and influence of the Federal Government at the expense of that of the States or *shudder* the people.

This is just the next turn of that screw.

And yes, I know what "liberal" is supposed to mean! I also know that, up until FDR, the "liberal" party in the United States was... the Republicans. Democrats were xenophobic right-wingers. (I live, as I did when young, in Texas -- home of those great Democrats Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson. At age 16 I helped campaign for Goldwater, and cried in rage over the daisy ad -- at age 16 I knew what the man really said, admired it, and was murderously angry at the distortion.)

There is no liberal party or philosophy in the United States at the moment, which is why I'm careful to hyphenate it "left-liberal". People who constantly use jealousy and envy to promote their political philosophy; whose basic thesis is, "They've got it, and you don't. Therefore they stole it." This is of course added to the professariat and the "media", primarily the TV folks. Have you noted that, on CNN, the Taliban always "report" civilian casualties, whereas the Air Force "alleges" that they're doing the best they can? Forty-eight times a day. The fundamental assumption here is that the United States is always in the wrong.

A socialist-oriented philosophy to base this on would be a relief, not an irritant. The people who irritate me use socialist jargon a lot, just as the fundie "Christians" invoke (vainly, IMO) God, and make me just as grumpy -- but in fact they have no fundamental beliefs, no unifying ideology. Just bits and scraps of phrases here and there, and a commitment to "divide and conquer" strategies -- if you can get everybody jealous and envious of everybody else, think of the learned papers and investigative specials you can do!

And no, I'm no fan of the present administration in any absolute sense. But when (just as a minor example) the proponents of the opposition continually harp on the incident with the ballot applications as an example of "voting irregularities", and fail to mention that on their side they did it sooo ethically by having the applications go directly to Party Headquarters for vetting before being passed on -- I know which one I'm likely to support better.

Argh, I'm ranting again. Peace. Keep your papers in order. You never know when the Heimatsekuritatsdienst will ask to see them.