Decline and Free Fall

Well past the decline phase, the republic appears to be in a free fall in my old age, with the Republican Party the chief engine and proverbial handbasket—“republican” in name only since, well, Eisenhower, maybe as late as Ford. Its current House representation gathers the sorriest collection of the weak, the loud, and the bizarre; its Senatorial majority, a self-deluding parade of embarrassing invertebrates. Only the Republican-dominated Supreme Court remains as a possible check on our collective disgrace. I’m not encouraged. But institutionally, they’re all that’s left.

And then there’s the streets. My old lady, who has deeper experience of the 60s, is ready to hit ‘em now. “It’s -20, dear. Maybe let’s wait until spring, or at least a thaw.” Snow pants, she says, snow pants.