I see people here getting it nearly right such a lot of the time. They excoriate the ‘left’, the Democrats, as though they are worse than the ‘right’, the Republicans. I see them talk of ‘European’ ‘left-leaning’ and compare it to the staunch ‘American Way’, while totally missing the point that the divide is entirely internal to the human mind and artificial.

Your thesis here is clearly defensible, Chris, and why would anyone argue with its main points. But one wonders at the relevance. It is like discussing the menu on the Captain’s table being different to the second-class salon menu. Sure there are differences. But it is all wholesome food and this is the Titanic.

The ‘community’ bias of the ‘left’ is human. People achieve more together. The ‘Individualistic’ bias of the ‘right’ is human too. Leaders and innovators show the way and take us up the rocky paths toward the high ground. The lies and mendacities and cheating and thieving, the manipulations and coercions are distortions of character and common to humans and common to the political parties. But the two mainstreams of political thought and desire can be integrated to great benefit for all humanity if the artificiality is dropped and the excoriations are put aside. The character defects cannot benefit anyone.

The ship will sink, not because the Captain wants to be in charge and the steerage passengers want fresh sheets and sing-along evenings, but because the Integrity of the Ship of State and the Character of the Amrican People has been compromised. There’s a friggin’ great hole in the hull.

So, Obama is the Captain now. The reading material on his bedside is not to my taste but I am more iterested in his ability to Navigate and command the ship. In human terms this means Morals. I didn’t see anyone else in the race with the necessary moral profile – apart from myself of course. I didn’t see anything like the required Character or Integrity from any participants in the race. I didn’t hear one word of acknowledgement that Character and Integrity were the significant matters that undepin all else.

In fact I haven’t heard anyone in America talk of these things since Martin Luther King put his head up over the parapet. No one has taken any notice of him – or me.