In the universe of discourse people chatter everywhere, all the time and about every possible subject. The intellectual marketplace is something quite different. Here is where ideas are exchanged, modified and sometimes subverted by what we call spinning, another name for lying about some perfectly sound thought.

The 2004 election process is one where some of the very sensible ideas about discourse and the marketplace for ideas and important issues have been turned upside down and ordinary citizens are subjected to a tidal wave of obfuscation and are asked to ponder trivialities of candidates, their gaffes and lapses.  What is worse is that history is rewritten in much the same manner that Soviet Russia wrote out individuals whom the dictator wished to liquidate. Today we have independent U.S. dictators who, under a 527 election campaign law, can and do write their own histories and claim equality with scholars and the text books we use to educate our people, young and old.

What is going on here is the manipulation of fact to win the all important election of the leader of the world and at the same time to place in power the Members of the House of Representatives and Senators – the upper house of the Congress and the President will decide who will judge us for years to come. To all intents and purposes, the American President IS the most powerful leader in the world. The accent is on “leader” and not on the bully in the pulpit as a lame duck until John Kerry is fortunate enough to take over at the end of the first and only Bush II term. This will happen if you vote and choose the correct side.

Actually the universe of discourse is a chaotic place today and is removed from the colleges and universities and other places where think tanks are hallowed halls; where thought is worked on until it makes sense for the rest of us. The internet is a handy tool for me to check out spelling and the meaning of words as well as getting a cross section of historical fact from different sources.  It is also a welter of blogs and web sites where postings are instantaneous and immediately accepted by a whole range of thinking individuals as the truth – unchecked and whose author can be and often is a discredited official or individual who has had his hand slapped and his rear end kicked on the way out of the door of respected houses of discourse and marketplaces of intellectual craftsmanship.

This 2004 election will go down, with the costumes of Halloween, as a happening where invention may win over the sober realities of proper intellectual discourse.