Bob Greenberger

I’ve often thought that presidential candidates should be required to visit all 50 states during the campaign season. It feels more…democratic…than just concentrating on the states in play.

On the other hand, while senators & presidents are off visiting states, they aren't concentrating on doing their jobs. Which, I feel, is more important than campaigning....

I find it difficult to comprehend why things so clear to perhaps half the country and me seem different to the other half. It has to be more than ideology since facts are facts.

But to some, lies can be overlooked; its more important that Those Evil Liberals/Conservatives stay out of office, lest they Ruin Our Christian/Free Nation.

I, too, intend to think and write about the likelihood that a poor educational system has brought about the electoral results we've gotten. But a lot of people downplay the value of education, and, judging from President Dumbya, a lot of people steal good educations from those better qualified because they're related to someone.

As for not understanding the other folks, there's a great big divide. Many are surprised that a big chunk of Dumbya's support came from fervent Christians who said "values" were their main voting point. (Right, values like bombing people who are different than us. Ahem.) But these people grow up believing that faith is very important. They trust in what they're told, not in what they see, or in what others can prove. (Darwin, anyone?) A lot of what these people do is good -- they work hard, they keep their yards clean, their children don't grafitti the downtown business district, etc. But they are so insulated in their lives that they don't understand other people (and are even frightened by other people), and when they do meet other people, all they want to do is convert them to their point of view. There are states that voted on Tuesday to make parental notification in case of teen abortion a requirement. That's not a bad thing in most cases, but in cases of incest or parental abuse it sure is. They think that Columbine was a case of two sick kids acting out... and those boys were indeed having difficulty... but it is also a case of being bullied into a corner. I can't condone what those kids did, but I understand it, having myself been the kind of kid who was often picked upon.

Bob, you and I have ridden subways with homeless people and the smell of urine; these people don't understand why the homeless people aren't shooed away and told to get a job (but they won't hire them). You and I have known people whose family lives have left them impoverished, addicted, depressed, or shattered; these people don't have that experience. You and I know that if you work for a corporation your job can disappear on a whim; these people work for themselves and gather in cliques to give each other work (everything from the Rotary to the local chamber of commerce to, of course, Skull and Bones).

Ultimately, these people are afraid to consider what's different, because when they look at it, they see Sioux Falls and Topeka and Amarillo and Biloxi turning into New York and Los Angeles, which "everyone" knows might as well be Sodom and Gomorrah.