At any rate, I will now comment on your book-signing schedule, Katy. I look forward to seeing you at the Langhorne Borders, December 4. I’ll bring a friend, too!

I will now be regularly watching your feet, Katy, waiting to see what pair of stylish but sensible shoes you’re wearing today. If you find any on sale, please let me know where you found them? It’s tough to find pragmatic pumps not made for frumps, rubber soled boots not cobbled for coots . . . I used to be able to fit into Easy Spirit stuff, but these days, the front of my foot is too fat for their “B” (bummer), and my heel too narrow for their “D” (doggone).

So if the shoe fits, I’ll buy it, that is, if it’s not too too homely.

All the best,
Dave

I have to agree with Andrew that there is also a lot of laziness. I have to cop to it as well. I don’t take the time to delve deeply into all the political issues (too busy searching for funny videos and Buddhist rap songs on youtube). People satisfy themselves with sound-bites instead of really trying to understand all the complexities of the issues that they are reducing to bumper-sticker slogans.

I found it fascinating.

Here’s why. John Adams, who believed that a strong central government was required to financially provide for the common welfare, and Thomas Jefferson, who believed that federal government should be limited so as not to infringe upon the independence of states, were close friends. They competed politically. Adams even lost the Presidency after a single term to Jefferson, but they remained cordial and, in a way, remained allies.

The two had common ground, a belief that individual freedoms should be upheld at all costs, lest the revolution be a vain pursuit, and the United States become just another tyrannical monarchy.

Today, the root of their two opposing beliefs remain, but the common ground has all but vanished. Instead of demanding our freedom to write, interpret and enforce our own law, we have lost interest in the governance of the United States and are content to rely on our elected officials to “know better” than we do. So, when our legislators and executives take actions that are contrary to the wishes of the citizens they govern, we sit back and allow them to be re-elected, or worse, we begrudgingly pull the lever for one of a handful of pre-selected individuals that a group in Washington, over which we have no control, has selected for us. Democrats may recall that sentiment in 1984, when Mondale was their only option. For Republicans, it was McCain in 2008.

The truth is, I’m losing sympathy for my fellow Americans (myself included), who won’t bother to truly engage in the freedoms for which people like Adams and Jefferson risked their lives. Instead we take Rush’s word for it. We take Matt Damon’s word for it. We take anyone’s word for it except our own, and we choose from our pre-selected reality-show-esque candidates based upon surface-level impressions and sheer laziness.