Is it Wednesday yet?

I have a worry about the elections. I guess I'm just old fashioned, but I believe in people following the rules because they are the rules. Not because you might get caught, but because we follow the rules. The problem I can see is that with rules like "look both ways before crossing the street" and "always stop at stop lights and stop signs" it's obvious that after awhile of ignoring these rules, the system will exact payment. That is, you will be smashed flat in the street because Joe Darling was on his cell phone and didn't see YOU, and you didn't bother to look for him. Our rules that define and regulate America are less obvious in their extraction of payment. Cleaning the gene pool won't happen in the same way as being squashed while jaywalking. End of subject, end of a bad chunk of DNA. With the rules of America, it's far more subtle. And we aren't a particularly subtle people. So we can ignore the warning signs for a LONG time before it is noticeable to the wider population.

I guess what I'm trying to point out is that each election has gotten nastier and nastier. And to what end? I mean, in the end one of 'em wins and one loses. Of course, that may not be so cut and dried this year - just as it wasn't four years ago.

But that's part of the issue.

Candidate Kerry has already promised he won't give up without a fight if the election goes against him. He'll call up his team of lawyers to file suit in every conceivable way that might give him an edge. And that's the crux of my fear .. that we will pay less attention to the actual law and more attention to the decisions of judge and lawyer. Just as more and more often it's becoming "ok" to behave badly in school, for instance, and hope you don't get caught.

Are we less moral now than we were 40 years ago? Less intelligent? Beyond that - less SMART?

Or does it just look that way because most of us have no personal experience with being a young adult from 40 years ago. And many of us that DO have such an experience tend to see it in the "rosy glow" of the past. It just wasn't that bad when we were kids.

Was it?

Speaking of going to hell in a handbasket .. do you suppose anyone from Helena, Montana has considered opening up a store called Handbasket?

What more perfect advertisement:

Where did you go to lunch?
Lunch? Oh, we went to Helena Handbasket .. it was great!

Uh huh ...