More important than Rachel's illustration of just exactly the "libertarian" or anti-government meme goes was her explanation the next night of how this nonsense has been used to defeat progressive initiatives since well before most of us were around.

She only implicitly noted that government regulation of the food we eat, the hours which a child may work, how many people can be in a particular public place or workplace, whether a a woman is entitled to the same pay as a man doing the same job, whether someone can be fired solely because of how old they are, all of it, was the subject of great debate for most of the life of this nation. But you know that is has and you know why President Roosevelt was so unhappy with the Supreme Court.

It was among "all the crap you learned in high school" as Paul Simon described it:

When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder
I can think at all
And though my lack of edu---cation
Hasn't hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

We shake our head in wonder and laugh when some idiot yells that the government should keep its hands off medicare, except when you consider that she is not alone, and may even represent a majority of Americans.

The dingbat right--wingnut is way too respectful a term for them---and their enablers or cousins who report or purport to comment on the news---are far and away the grossest purveyors of whatever stupidity that can be constructed, and they always have.

But many on this side of the political fence have bought into the President as monarch thing, too. Every week there is a why doesn't President Obama do this or that, as if all that is required is that he issue a royal edict. Today's suggest that he "remove" BP somehow from the gulf, and use some incantation to remove the oil. Perhaps they have a good idea: this blogger does not have the expertise to evaluate them, but, he does know enough to reject the idea that the President has somehow abdicated responsibility for doing what can be done or that he does not care enough.

When not worrying about the fate of the world, your faithful correspondent spends considerable time worrying about the fate of the Boston Red Sox. In those moments he gets to converse with people who wonder why Red Sox management did not know that Victor Martinez or Adrian Beltre might not hit as well as in Cleveland, Seattle or Los Angeles. Many of those people imagine that Theo Epstein can just acquire any player he wants, perhaps by showering money all over the place.

It is not terribly reassuring to see this approach to baseball carry over to government, but neither is it all that surprising. Others have made this point, perhaps, better than those constructed here but the historical fact that we are a nation which revels in stupidity---one that had a political party proud to be called the "Know Nothings" does not hold out much promise for progress in a time that demands it.

So amidst all of the hoopla about how some guy could win the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in Kentucky despite clinging to the view that a privately owned restaurant should not be required to serve black people, the anti-government (no new taxes) crowd have managed to again diminish public education and otherwise compel it to teach falsehoods they wish were true.

If there is anyone you encounter who wants to argue this idiotic and long ago debunked point about the government taking over private property to ensure the rights of all of its citizens, just ask them to listen to a President of the United States, a man of the south, respond in 1965 , or as his predecessor did so in 1963.

You probably know what he said that night. He said:

The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay?

That President was murdered a few months later. Many people did not like what he said to them.

But this, too, you knew. Still, they persevere and do what they can to make it impossible for government to fulfill one of its greatest obligations to the citizenry: to teach the children. Yes, this is just what we need. Even less education, because the dumber we get, the more tea parties we will have time to attend. The appeal of dumbness; the idea that education is for elitists is maddening, but it all but defines American politics.

No point is served by repeating an old post about one of the greatest works of fiction which made this point so well, but, sadly, the consequences of this approach to problems is almost always disastrous.

Defeating Sarah Palin or Rand Paul will not solve our problems (though each is a step in the right direction). A commitment to a new approach is required. I can think of no better way to describe our mission than this:

In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are-- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself....

The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.