John, I have struggled not to be inflammatory, to attempt to be as mild and nonjudgemental as is possible, all in the possibly vain hope of maintaining some kind of political dialogue across the lines. I am not throwing in the towel on that effort, but I AM very nearly as deeply troubled as you clearly are by the developments in this season as the race draws toward the final stretch.

While there have been candidates and officeholders in this nation who have held the truth at arm's length (at least), and from time to time one or both of the political parties have veered dangerously toward the edge of insanity (see both the Adams and Jefferson campaigns in the early days as the unifying force of George Washington passed from the scene and our free press went wild with rumor and innuendo) ... there has never before been a presidential ticket and an entire party so fully committed to winning through deliberate and massive lying on this scale.

Never has nearly half our population been willing - even eager - to turn their backs on obvious reality, upon documented history and corroborated evidence, upon the clear and recent videotape evidence of their own candidate saying EXACTLY the opposite of what he says today he has ALWAYS said ... and blind to how recent this contradiction occurred! They are even willing and eager to turn their backs directly upon math and science itself to uphold the political position of their party and candidate.

And this is NOT a movement of unwashed populist pitchfork-waving uneducated folks. Full tenured professors and CEOs and bank presidents and research scientists and respectable institutions all come on board for this nonsense. I am brought to say this by a discussion with a professor emeritus this morning outside church, a distinguished scholar who was lamenting seeing some of his colleagues - including some who he had known and respected for decades - crossing over for their party and rejecting the solid consensus of the scientific community that they themselves had helped to build.

I think that is part of what feeds into this movement, why some of our friends on the right have NO problem assuming that, say, the overwhelming majority of the world's climate researchers are just making it up to support the Democrats. They know, at least subconsciously, that those that THEY cite are doing exactly that ... and simply presume that such behavior is the norm. What else makes sense?

It anguishes those of us who have always respected science and history as being fully intellectually committed to the truth above all to see this become the understanding held by the population. We do not believe that the modern world - ANY modern world - is sustainable by such a population. Whether the burning of coal is more or less harmful to the planetary ecology than renewable sources; whether, in fact, there IS such a thing as "planetary ecology" or "global climate" is absolutely vital to our survival as a species. And if we ARE fully unwilling to respect science and reality over belief ... we are, at a single blow, striking dead the modern world which has evolved since the enlightenment and returning in a generation to the Dark Ages of ignorance and suspicion, to a world bereft of the light of reason and the culture of education.

The stakes ARE exactly that dire, and not merely in this election or this nation. The globe stands at a precipice of survival on so many fronts that I do not feel that I can ignore that reality in the name of comity. I cannot strike down every lie .. but I CAN speak up against those who are leading the creation and dissemination of those lies.

And, dammit, I will.

"There’s a reason the Constitution begins “We the people . . .” rather than “We the unconnected individuals who couldn’t care less about one another . . . .” - Eugene Robinson