I'm not convinced that things are that hopeless—yet. If I were, I would be making plans to move to another country.

Maybe I missed it, but how did Hillary Clinton* get involved? I think she does have presidential ambitions, but I'm not really that sure that she would ever get nominated. I personally think that Carol Mosely Braun has a better chance, in that she doesn't carry any particular baggage (in fact, I don't think she'd be bad at all). There are a couple of other Democratic candidates who have emerged so far who have also displayed a promising amount of backbone, and one can hope. It remains to be seen.

On the matter of electronic voting, I share your misgivings. Too darned easy to diddle. This is why we definitely need our votes to be committed to something physical, tangible, and permanently verifiable—like paper.

Curious. You've pointed out what you feel is wrong. What are your suggestions as to how to make it right?

Don Firth

*Perhaps she plans to give the coming election a pass (I don't recall how long she'll be in her current office, but I think she made a promise that she would stay the course and not run for another office until her term was finished) and probably has her eye on the 2008 Presidential election. If one feels strong antipathy toward Hillary, I really wouldn't worry about it. There is an old story about a man who was condemned to the block who told the king that if he spared his life for a year, he would teach the king's horse to talk. The king laughed and said, "Aren't you just postponing the inevitable? Do you really think you can teach a horse to talk?" The condemned man answered, "Who knows? A lot can happen in a year. I might die of natural causes. Or you might die and your successor might set me free. Or—the horse might actually learn to talk!"