The Republicans are facing a situation similar to that of the early '90s when George H.W. Bush had a "vision thing" limited to destroying Communism and lowering capital gains taxes. When Communism in the Soviet Union collapsed and people lost their fear of attack, most Americans decided that there was no reason to keep the whining toady of corporate capitalism in office any longer. If Osama bin Ladin was actually captured or killed and Al Qaeda was destroyed, the only issue remaining on which McCain has strong convictions is that corporate taxes are too high and, perhaps, that we should accommodate the excess population of Mexico and other nations in allowing them to come and work here. Very few Americans would support him on either of these stands.

It should be clear to you from the letters posted here thus far that the popular view of the superdelegate system is regarded as an anti-democratic ploy by an overwhelming majority of loyal Democrats, who see your defense of it as a full bowl of "night soil". I got so tired of the hypocritically mis-named "Democratic" Party that I reregistered Republican to support Ron Paul. At least the Republicans will choose their nominee without resorting to the kind of criminal shenanigans they engage in against Democrats. Now that they appear to have selected McCain (or will, at the Convention), they are certain to end up in the bottom of the outhouse pit where they belong.

The politically aware of the American people are discovering how tragically short our system falls from its promises of liberty, democracy, and justice and that the major obstacle to the fulfillment of those promises lies not in their impracticality, but that there are powerful interests who profit directly from maintaining institutions that frustrate those goals. These interests have no scruples in using any means necessary to keep control of political and economic power. Your painfully biased article is an example of the kind of misinformational smoke-screen used to hide the betrayal of America's promises.

The John Birch Society was based on the concept that there is exists conspiracy of powerful people whose intent is to achieve worldwide political and economic hegemony at the expense of the liberty of American citizens, our participatory form of government, and our national independence. I find their idea that Soviet Communism was founded and maintained by this conspiracy as a means of scaring the American public into submission ludicrous, but the actions of the capitalist military-industrial complex since the fall of the Soviet Union bear a remarkable resemblance to the imagined pre-fall conspiracy. It's as if the corporate globalists woke up after the Soviet collapse, looked around them, grabbed some John Birch Society literature and, under the guise of neocons, promptly constructed the conspiracy that the Birchers had only imagined, setting up the Islamic nations as the post-Soviet Bad Guys.

The current John Birch Society is solidly opposed to the whole neocon program of preemptive war, spying on citizens, abrogation of constitutional rights and processes, as well as the irresponsible government spending in which the neocons indulge. Most Americans don't seem to know that members of the Birch Society thinks as poorly of the Bush Administration as members of the Green Party and, in many ways, has a program that is aligned with what might be called the far Left.

With oil prices once again climbing steeply into the stratosphere, mortgage foreclosures up by at least 50%, state tax revenues plummeting causing massive layoffs in education and the closing of state parks, I think it is fair to say there is a recession in the making. However, even that recession will be as the mildest forewarning of the megadepression we face as a consequence of our ravenous consumption of fossil fuels, fresh water,and economically mineable minerals, all being depleted as sacrifices upon the altar of the god of perpetual growth.

Our current infrastructure is in no sense of the word sustainable on time scales measured beyond a few centuries and we are rapidly approaching the limits of resource consumption and population growth imposed by nature. Those familiar with Thom Hartmann's work know that we live in a "wetiko" culture, one that grows as a cancerous parasite at the expense of resources and stabilizing systems of the biosphere. There seems to be little recognition or at least public confession of recognition of the dire position we are in, most likely due to the "Carter effect": any political leader who realistically forecasts problems concerning the impact of our spendthrift ways on our future survival will be voted out of office in favor of smiley-faced "it's morning in America" ignoramuses.

While I am certainly no supporter of Senator Clinton, I am sickened by the continual assault by the press on the people's right to choose among the candidates based on their positions on issues. Campaigns are being routinely presented as if they were ongoing soap operas. The members of the Fifth Estate should acknowledged their unethically premature dismissal of some of the candidates through negative editorializing and just plain not covering their campaigns.

We need a national primary on a single day to give everyone a chance to vote for the candidate of his/her choice. This would help focus the press on meaningful coverage of the campaigns without all the coverage of "campaign drama", which does little to advance our ability to select wisely among the candidates.

I think it is significant that the two Congressmen whose agendas are the most overtly anti-neocon have been reelected, both, in a sense, by wide margins. The American people are hungry for political leadership that will repudiate the arrogance, violence, and corruption that has been the hallmarks of the Bush Administration. If other congressional candidates would take few pages from the programs of Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul there may still be hope that America could once again enjoy peace, justice, and liberty under the Constitution.