Still in double digits

You won't hear it much in the news, but the author of these words received about one out of every six votes cast in the Oregon Republican primary yesterday, even though John "Say Anything" McCain has long since been anointed the GOP candidate:

Every election season America is presented with a series of false choices. Should we launch preemptive wars against this country or that one? Should every American neighborhood live under this social policy or that one? Should a third of our income be taken away by an income tax or a national sales tax? The shared assumptions behind these questions, on the other hand, are never cast in doubt, or even raised. And anyone who wants to ask different questions or who suggests that the questions as framed exclude attractive, humane alternatives, is ipso facto excluded from mainstream discussion.

And so every four years we are treated to the same tired, predictable routine: two candidates with few disagreements on fundamentals pretend that they represent dramatically different philosophies of government.

Pollsters say Americans largely believe we're on the wrong track as a nation. The electorate supposedly is restless over the economy and Iraq. So, you say you want a revolution? Do something different this year at the polls. Remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. How long have we been putting Republicrats in office? Where has it gotten us?