Be Afraid

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This nation is best served by an intelligent, informed electorate. Those of us who worry that large parts of the voting public will fall for easy manipulations like playing upon fears, pandering to prejudices, and repeatedly hitting buzzwords like patriotism or "conservative values" are often labeled elitist or patronizing. The public is smarter than that.

I'd like to believe that. I need to believe that.

Then I read the Sunday Parade magazine, and see the two-page spread for Amish space-heaters. The photos show nice Amish people, renown for their craftsmanship and quality, making these heaters in their barn-raising workshops, bringing their goods to the market on the back of a horse and buggy. And I realize, this isn't satire. This heater company believes, with good reason, that they can take their mass-produced, big-city manufactured (probably overseas) space heaters and throw into their sales pitch ridiculous pictures of clearly staged Amish nonsense and people will fall for it.

But....but...it's made by the Amish!

No, it isn't.

This, THIS is why I worry about elections.

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I have decided to make next week POLITICS FREE. I am so sick of listening to all the opinions, bloviations, name-calling and fact-distortions on both sides that I'm going cold-turkey for a week. No "Opinions" section of the paper. No talk radio. No on-line political news or commentary, no nothing! I think I will be a happier person for it. I'll let you know how it goes.