I do despair of politics in the USA, Don, and that's no lie.

I'm not suggesting you should, however. You're an American, aren't you? I'm not. I was born in Canada. It is no great emotional trauma for me to live somewhere else than in the USA. Since you are an American, you naturally have a deep committment to the USA that I don't.

Some people, however, do wash their hands of politics and they look for other ways to find meaning in life, and that's OKAY. You may recall that Bob Dylan and Joan Baez fell out over that very issue. He expressed it as, "You think you can change the way the world is, and I know that no one can." He sought meaning in personal creativity and other directly personal matters. She sought meaning more in social and political action.

The temptation is to insist that one of them was right and the other was wrong, but that's not the way I see it. I think they were both right from their own point of view as it applied to them personally.

What I mean is, they both did exactly what came naturally to them. Joan was deeply interested in political action, and that was perfect for her. Bob wasn't interested in it at all (after around mid-'64), he was interested in other things entirely, and that worked perfectly for him.

It's good to see people do what fits their own nature, rather than doing what someone else with an outside agenda thinks they "should do".

I think both Joan and Bob did exactly the right thing...for Joan and Bob...and what they did was diametrically opposed when it came to politics and social action.

Just because I despair of politics in the USA doesn't mean you should. Nor does it mean I shouldn't. We weren't born from the same blueprint.

There isn't just one right way to be in life, Don, and if there was...well, you'd have a world full of very predictable robots instead of a world full of unique and interesting people.

Canada is still a pretty moderate place. I do not yet despair of politics in Canada...but I don't expect much of it either! ;-) It's not where I place my hopes and dreams, that's for sure. I KNOW in my very bones that no Canadian political party is ever going to solve the essential problems, answer the essential questions, or provide the essential solutions. Not a chance. But I do give thanks that they tend not to go to really ridiculous extremes...