Maureen Dowd, "Jeb in the Vortex": "Guess I Got What I Deserve"

Are you already in your sixties? Do you remember any of the lies that you were told in elementary school? Do remember hearing that in America anybody can become president? One of my favorite books at the time: "You Will Go to the Moon." It didn't happen.

Those were happier days when you could live the lie, and a potpourri of cheap heroin and other "delights" were not being made available at your local playground.

"Hope" and Change"? Long dead, and in their stead we can only await Jeb and Hillary.

Is it really possible that in 2016, Jeb Bush will run against Hillary Clinton for the presidency? In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Jeb in the Vortex" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/opinion/dowd-jeb-in-the-vortex.html?smid=tw-NYTimesDowd&seid=auto&_r=0), Maureen Dowd concludes:

"Some of those close to Jeb say he’s serious about running and bringing back a civil tone to Republican politics. Others say he needs to act as though he’s running to keep his speaking fees high and options open. Rush Limbaugh thinks Jeb’s 'act of love' comment was a gambit to tick off the Tea Party and 'get the conservative backlash to him out of the way.'

Jeb thinks Republicans have lost their way. He may soon learn that a lot of conservatives think they have found their way — and it’s not the joyful, loving, government-can-be-a-force-for-good way. It’s the mean, cruel, gut-the-government way.

When this crowd thinks of A Thousand Points of Light, they’re thinking of torches as they march toward the Capitol."

Bring back a "civil" tone to Republican politics? "Civil" derives from the Latin word "civis," meaning "citizen," from a time when the word had value.

We are all citizens of the world? Rubbish. It is a world of vanity, self-love and escapism, extending to and characterizing both parties in America.

"Politics"? From the Latin word "populo," meaning people. I long ago lost my faith in people.

Jeb versus Hillary? What could be more fun? Almost like a new episode of "Dynasty," which ran on television from 1981 to 1989, and which I could never bring myself to watch.

In the words of Badfingers's "Baby Blue," which currently serves as my ringtone:

"Guess I got what I deserve"

It was only a matter of time.

Had I only been able to go to the moon or live out my days in some other last resort (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2014/03/the-last-resort-by-richard-grossman.html) . . .