When a Fox News anchor, reacting to his own network’s surging e-mail traffic, warns urgently on-camera of a rise in hate-filled, “amped up” Americans who are “taking the extra step and getting the gun out,” maybe we should listen. He has better sources in that underground than most....
What is this fury about? In his scant 145 days in office, the new president has not remotely matched the Bush record in deficit creation. Nor has he repealed the right to bear arms or exacerbated the wars he inherited. He has tried more than his predecessor ever did to reach across the aisle. But none of that seems to matter. A sizable minority of Americans is irrationally fearful of the fast-moving generational, cultural and racial turnover Obama embodies — indeed, of the 21st century itself. That minority is now getting angrier in inverse relationship to his popularity with the vast majority of the country. Change can be frightening and traumatic, especially if it’s not change you can believe in.
In the long term, the only real solution I see is the development of some IQ-enhancing drug: "Comprehenzine," they might call it. Big Pharma would make a killing. (On the other hand, a suddenly enwisened populace would begin to demand sensible, Canadian-style legislation to control drug prices -- so that development is probably not on the horizon.) Lacking such an essential tool, I can only recommend that law-enforcement personnel begin packing "smart darts" capable of administering powerful antipsychotic medication at a distance. At a very great distance.
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