I'm supporting Thompson, and then McCain, and KELO makes me grind my teeth.

It was a horrible decision, and whatever thin reed of reason attaches to it is massively outweighed by the metastizing government corruption that is bleeding America dry at every level of Government.

Bruno, things are better then they've ever been. Government corruption? You mean like President for Life FDR? Maybe his ethnic cleaning? Things are going great, and they're getting better. Does it pain you so much that Bush is solving problems the Right has been whining about for seventy years? Or maybe you're worried that the most corrupt government agency out there(the INS) is losing much of it's power to shake down hard working men and incomplete families?

Robert,

I disagree with you over your view of the mix of things.

Some of this may be due to my residency in Illinois, a state that is now more corrupt than LA or NJ, but much of it simply reading the headlines around the country.

As dysfunctional as the Fed Gov. is, my bet is that it is much cleaner than the State and Local cesspools (and this includes the rampant corruption inside school districts).

You may ignore it if you will, and focus only on the rosy scenarios promoted by the illustrious OJ.

I'm all happy about the good things, but a bit more vigilant about the bad.

There is a looming Gov. Pension debacle in many states.

When a cadre of looters can condemn a 90% rented shopping center as "blighted" so as to turn it over to Target (evicting 10 immigrant's small businesses in exchange for a corporate looter seeking to avoid paying market prices for land), that's corrupt.

Big Pharma pushing Ritilan and Prozac in conjunction with schools (Looking into the cabal pushing "Mental Health Screening" in all schools)

An FDA that approves bad drugs but refuses to approve good ones (who's paying for oversight).

Global Warming - Big oil and Big Energy sucking up to the subsidy trough (ADM is both corrupt and a welfare queen).

Spare me the lectures about "how good things are." Eternal vigilance is in order, and the intersection of Corporate and Government collectivism is more pervasive and dangerous than most of think.

As good as you think things are, we can do better.

"As good as you think things are, we can do better". That statement will be true until Judgement day. Keep crying wolf and you will end up like Glenn Reyolds and Porkbusters(Who knew there was a difference between the Democrats and Republicans when it came to Pork? My bad....). "Metastizing government corruption that is bleeding America dry"? Carter bleed America dry. Now we have money coming out our ears. I understand you are too "wonderstale to wonder at each new miracle", but these tantrums you and others are throwing every time an issue does not go 100% your way is just helping the Democrats. "There's no difference between the two parties" is what's getting actual corrupt Democrats elected. Stop trying to bring "Atlas Shrugged" to the real world. Yes, hands get dirty on occasion, but the Democrats are real, baby killing amoral monsters who can't be trusted near the levers of power. Stop feeding the mob before we get "Carter II, the Revenge of the Left".

I've got this friend, very liberal, who thinks it's important to note how much he likes the most liberal GOP candidate in the debates. I don't understand how he can find his own opinion interesting, much less think someone else would. In any event, he's all over this Paul guy. Based on every other thing this guy thinks, that's reason enough to fear the prospect of a President Paul.

While things can always be better, they can also be infinitely worse, to wit the Carter years.

Illinois may be the exception that proves the rule, because everywhere we've traveled people seem almost preternaturally cheerful. Malls, restaurants, theaters, beaches, theme parks, etc. are bursting at the seams and highways and parking lots are crowded with every sort of new vehicle. Even the student parking lot at the high school is filled with new cars!

Which is why I can't understand why the media are so successful in convincing people that the truth lies opposite to what they can clearly see with their own eyes.

Robert,

You are arguing effectively with a straw man, but not really addressing anything I've raised.

Your response about the "judgement day" is certainly true, but smacks of an excuse not to strive for better things. One need not be a pessimist to argue that things should be better. Why anyone would have problem with Glenn Reynold's campaign against pork is beyond me.

As for optimism, I try to get my audience to be optimistic, and spend a great deal of time telling them that the sky is not falling.

I consider myself to be generally optimistic most days, crestfallen on others and vigilant on all of days.

erp,

I don't judge the quality of life or the direction of the nation by the number of new cars or people ability to afford baubles. Fine as all that is, man doesn't live by bread alone.

Our schools are overpriced and awful, and corruption is a problem regardless of Robert's view that Carter was a bad president. One party is pushing the nation for defeat in a war, while the other party is blundering around cluelessly.