When Presidential candidates propose government programs minimizing personal responsibility at no additional cost (taxes), keep in mind that we once believed in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and maybe of a Great Pumpkin that rose at midnight in Charlie Brown’s pumpkin patch. They, like the promises, are just not true.

Graying baby boomers (like me) once turned to alternative sources of reliable political insight like “Saturday Night Live.” Remember actor John Belushi succinctly summing up politicians’ broken promises with his whiny scowl and cry, “But nooooooooooo!”? And we laughed at Dan Ackroyd’s impersonation of Richard Nixon’s “I am not a crook” speech. But we sobered up, trusting for a while in a political system that worked – until recently.

In the last election, the popular vote went to Al Gore but the election to George Bush.

The words “every vote counts” now have the same qualitative value to Democrats as saying, “the check is in the mail.” Since then we’ve had a country divided and increasingly polarized. Did the system work? With dangling chad inspections and multiple recounts, half of the country felt “no.” Political moderation, common ground and civility further evaporated with the failed search for weapons of mass destruction.

Now the economy, health care and other domestic issues are overshadowed by homeland security. The homeland threat card (yellow, orange, red alert) is played up or down as another tactic of those seeking power. Meanwhile, our security, safety and quality of life are at stake. The gray middle ground, which was once the 1950s, has all but faded away. Moderates today are just the apathetic, disenfranchised, non-voting public. Collectively, we wonder what the truth is; for we all seek the truth. So we turn to the experts to help us find it.

We turned on, tuned in and focused political feelings toward our pundit of choice. Soon we learned that some of these “experts” turned out to be junkies, felons and alleged perverts in the “No Spin Zone.”

To show the other side is just as cool with the political scene, “Saturday Night Live” actor Al Franken probed deeply into the developmental processes of politics and published a national best seller: “Lies and Lying Liars Who Tell Them.” This following his earlier masterpiece: “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot.” So who do we turn to next, John Stewart, Mr. Rogers, Barney the Dinosaur? Hardly!

We gazed upon TV news anchors like Dan Rather on CBS – the replacement for “the most trusted man in America,” Walter Cronkite – to help us find truth. Rather’s failed expose of Bush’s National Guard service concluded that while the documents are really forgeries their allegations still hold true! Huh? My daughter Emma, who is five, made me counterfeit money using Crayola crayons. “It’s really fake Mr. Rather, but is it still good to spend?” I’d rather not.

And the world laughs at the sights and sounds of a divided, battered and bloodied America seen staggering to their respective Democratic and Republican corners each election. So what? Don’t let their laughter bother you.

Let them be jealous. It isn’t perfect, but it is the best system in the world. Being passionate about your political position is a good thing for democracy.

“Beware the middle minders who never snarl nor show a tooth,” said poet Robert Frost.

On those lacking conviction the Bible, in Revelation 3:14- 22, reads: “I know that you are neither hot nor cold. How I wish you were either one or the other!”

So, proudly be one or the other and make sure to vote.

Curt Slocum lives in Phippsburg, Maine, with his wife and two children. He can be reached at CurtSlocum4@aol.com.

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