One of the greatest sources of power for liberal leaders is people's tendency to believe whatever a charismatic, famous person tells them. It doesn't much matter if they're actually qualified, just that they're pretty and/or charming when they say it. It's gotten to the point that I tend to agree that there are two Americas today:

One America agrees ... that life is getting harder for working Americans, that things have been going down hill for thirty years, and that our only hope is bigger government. The other America realizes that it is nonsense to suggest that the middle class is disappearing and that the standard of living is eroding for working Americans.

That's right, nonsense. However, unlike most lefties, the author goes on with proof that such beliefs are the modern equivalent of insisting the sun goes 'round the earth. Read the whole thing before you write it off. Again.

What's sad is I've seen these same proofs at least four or five times before, from different sources using different material no less. Yet people insist on believing it's all still going to hell, and only government can save it.

I've had good friends imply, hell come out and say, only idiots vote Republican, that a Republican victory in November will just confirm giant swaths of the country have subhuman intelligence. Fine. If believing that the only person responsible for your prosperity is you, if believing that government isn't the solution, it's the problem, if believing that America is great and will only become greater if we get government out of the goddamned way makes me an idiot, sign me up for the short bus.

But let me dust off my shoes before I go...