World Outside

The world outside of Hawaii is gone far beyond crazy; Republicans, religious rants by the ill-read and poorly educated, all who "reject Bush" while holding on to republican doctrine (like there would be any difference). Republicans claiming that the Democrats are actually "socialist" after it was the republicans that forced, through deregulation, the public bailout of the world's banking systems. The Clinton administration presided over the most prosperous years in the last four decades, but the godbots are programmed to go back to the Reagan years for solace, nothing like keeping it in the family.
I cannot fathom the rhetoric I hear on the News channels or the other Blogs. Although, this is understandable when I listen to McCain on his "stump" spewing the same rant as though it has not been discredited by every agency dedicated to the topic of which he speaks. This has cleared up a suspicion of mine that the Faith based and motivated among us are in fact immune to ridicule because they are impervious to reason and debate (dense).
I am, on the other hand, optimistic about the future of America because of the youth view of reality as evidenced by the youth vote for Barack Obama. We can only hope! I also found some good news on youtube that, well lifted my spirits, public discourse about the invalidity of using the book as a basis for moral ramifications in governmental applications, by Barack Obama. I thought it was quite good. By the way, on a more personal note,
Most of my family is in Indiana which has a history of being very conservative, but according to the polls that I can find even Indiana is on the fence. Could this be due to me emailing my opinion to the "clan" every chance I get, or:

Can the US be getting Smarter?
I have spent most of the last 40 years learning why people believe what they believe or why they don't acquiesce facts. I highly recommend a book by Robert Wright, The Moral Animal (Why we are the way we are:)(1994). I can also recommend Consciousness Explained, by Daniel C. Dennett (1991). While both of these books explain why one would believe in superstitions, even the superstitions of bronze age desert goat herders, they are mostly concerned with the evolutionary mechanisms (Wright), of why and how one perceives our world (Dennett). These superstitions, religious doctrines, which are actually a fabrication of many stone and bronze age fears, garnered for support of bronze age tribal leaders, by those tribal leaders. Are actually, the answer to a question, that the answer to is at the heart of power and submission in the history of the human species. And, also plays a central roll in my disappointment of people who succumb to fear too readily. But anyway, I find it most telling that the republicans are using the same "propagate the fear" tactics used by religion for millennia. The lies, purported by the republicans, against the Democratic party and its representatives, including Sen. Barack Obama have only shown me that I was absolutely correct in mistrusting the sales pitch that McCain would be anything but another Bush republican.
Happy Halloween