Two Americas ...

There is an opinion piece circulating around the internets about the ruling class in America vs the rest of us. It contains some pointy observations that the Democrats mostly trust their political leaders to do what they want done, but very few Republicans show the same level of trust with their leaders. The point of that observation is that there is a not insignificant portion of the population that believes they don't have effective representation.

It brought to my mind a chapter in Mike Vanderboegh's novel Absolved, entitled Interposition , which describes how America has become two distinct countries. One of the tenets of the novel, and Mike's blog, Sipsey Street Irregulars, is to point out that the end (or lack of confidence) of the rule of law is particularly troublesome; if the law won't protect us from the government, then it also won't protect the government from us. The Republicans have served as the buffer between 'them' and 'us', but from the commentary referenced above, we don't trust the Republicans to do even that.

It has been said that politics is a blood sport, and it's really true. Politics are the mechanism the public uses to keep from revolting. The problem is, the Republicans don't act like it, and tend to go along with most of what Democrats want, just less of it.

So when enough of the pubic sees no political recourse for having their views heard, how long then before the pitchforks come out?

pm