Dreams of Arcadia

Presidential primaries are never pretty – they are, after all, the proverbial “sausage factories” of American politics; wherein groups of sometimes civilized men sling intestinal materials at each other until the mess and overpowering stench becomes too much to bear (for both participant and observer) – but the 2012 GOP Presidential primary appears to be fast-tracking itself into one of the most intensively dislikable races in modern memory.  Over the past few weeks we’ve witnessed a freakshow of delusional behavior coming from almost every GOP political camp save one (more on that later).  From the usual factually challenged statements common to any political campaign (most, ironically, coming from a man calling himself an historian), we’ve witnessed the devolution of the grand old party into a collection of back-biting yard dogs, attacking not only each other with an increasing venom and hostility, but also the very populace they’re trying to win over to their side.  The results, shall we say, are beginning to speak for themselves. Read the rest of this entry »