Mick,

Your understanding of America is sadly flawless! Democracy is a rare, precious thing, and many of us truly aren't worthy of it and could not care less about retaining it. We Democrats have made our fair share of really stupid mistakes, really stupid, and sometimes tragic shit, but there's no comparison with the willful nihilism offered up by the other side. America desperately needs a sane, reality-based, and truly conservative Republican Party, and it's hard to fathom it returning any time soon. If the attempted coup by Trump, and a hundred other things I could name, didn't jolt this return, I can't imagine what will. It's all about the acquisition of power and selective adherence to the rule of law. And what does it say about so many of us that there's such an insatiable appetite for cruelty, vulgarity, and violence? Don't answer that as we all know what it says about our species. We are but a chromosome away from our chimpanzee relations and we know how brutal their tribal wars can get.

Peter T.