Corrections

So the system works? Yes and no. The presidents low approval numbers might demonstrate that our democracy is alive and well, that it provides a peaceful way for boneheaded leaders to be deposed and replaced. Screw up and you're out the door.

Perhaps the big drop in the DowJones yesterday is also proof that the systems built in correcting mechanisms are efficient. Overheat your economy and investor fears (and the Fed) will cool things off. Cheat and get greedy like Fastow, lay and Abramoff and it's off to the slammer.Capitalism at work.

There is ,in my mind ,another way of looking at this. Perhaps the system works just well enough to placate the citizenry, to provide the assuring illusion of functioning democracy and capitalisms mechanical efficiency. The liberals watch with glee as the power leaks like hydrogen from the ridiculous dirigible of conservative ideology.( Perhaps she'll go up in flames like the Hindenburg) and they prepare to once again take the helm. "This is a center-right nation" says Karl Rove, hoping to bring moderation to the frenzy. And how "efficient" was the process? Ask a one armed soldier or someone from the ninth ward still living in a tent or a factory worker or a Salvadoran mother dying of thirst in the Sonoran desert. You know the list, Im sure you can add endlessly. And what will this marvelous, "democratic" process bring us? To right the wrongs and bring justice to the masses? Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. And when they fail, conservatives will exhume Richard Nixon and run his corpse in 2012.How will capitalism correct for a little inflationary pressure, for higher commodity prices? Thats right, people will lose their pensions, people will lose their jobs, people will lose their homes and go bankrupt and go insane. A couple of the most flagrant crooks will go to jail but thousands more are building homes in Aspen. All in all, an efficent system.

Now look behind the numbers of the sinking Bush balloon or the receding of the conservative tide and see peoples overall belief in the system in general, their trust and faith in government in general or in liberal democracy as a functioning process. Cynical, apathetic, pessimistic, totally removed. And what of their belief in our economic system system? You will find the same cynical, apathetic, negativity. "Them thats got shall get" , takes money to make money, there's a sucker born every minute. Nice guys finish last. People sit on their couches and watch Donald Trump fire another Wannabe Barron, have another drink and go to bed.