"The whole rationale of Giuliani is that we're in terrible danger and need a mean SOB to run things, but we've never elected a president on those grounds."

How would you characterize the 2004 election, then????

"The whole rationale of Giuliani is that we're in terrible danger and need a mean SOB to run things, but we've never elected a president on those grounds."

I have very clear memories of Nixon being elected on those very grounds.

And Americans know a good thing when they see one.

I'm a Navy Brat and got used to moving around. Liked it. Figured I'd keep doing it. Then I landed in the far left corner of Southern California and knew that was the place for me. Years later, I was able to settle here.

And now I find myself eyeing the far left southern corner of Canada, only because I cannot bear to be ashamed of the country I live in. Who could have imagined, after Viet Nam and Watergate, that we would again surrender our souls to soul-less, narcissistic politicians.

that you, Mr. Keillor, seem to have been taken in by Huckabee. You always seemed to have a gift for seeing through BS, fakery, and snake-oil charm, but you got snookered here. Huckabee is an ethics-challenged, pandering shyster who has a knack for getting Dems and lefties to believe he's somehow different--kinder and gentler--than the other Republicans, by playing the populist card and saying things like "Jesus wants me to protect the environment". He is NOT a better breed of Republican--he's actually much more of a lunatic than the rest of the frontrunners, has absolutely no understanding of foreign policy, and is a grasping hillbilly thief to boot. In fact, he makes my skin crawl just like George W. Bush did in 1999. Please do some research on this man--ask the good people of Arkansas why they don't tend to support Mike Huckabee for President (you'll find a great article about the "Dark Side" of Huckabee right here on Salon).

This isn't a political posting. As a registered Demo, I can't get riled up about Repub candidates yet... but isn't Mr. Huckabee the guy who lost 100+ pounds? ... without stomach surgery etc? Regardless of his stand on the many many important issues facing us, I think that is pretty good leadership for the whole obesity/diabetes epidemic. no?

Getting back to the point of Mr. Keillor's story (and this post)... put me down as a migratory being. Twelve years ago, at age 32 I took the train from Boston to Southern California with no job, friends, or solid job leads (or even vague ones.) Was it tough? Yes. Sometimes it still IS tough, but I can't fully imagine how miserable I would be now if I had never rolled the dice and jumped on that train.

And now? ... sure, the geo-political realities of what is happening in the US make me wonder what has happened. Like so many people I love this (my) country, but seriously worry about the direction it is heading in and fear for it's future. ... but what's a guy to do? ... I recently found out that I might qualify for dual Irish citizenship (my grandfather was born there) ... I have just started jumping through the required hoops, but if I do qualify, I would be allowed to live (and work!) indefinitely in any EU country.... the possibilities of it all have staggered me. We shall see.

Garrison Keillor is to writing what homeopathy is to medicine.

My great-grandfather took a boat from Edinburgh to Canada, snuck across the border, settled with family in Pennsylvania, decided he didn't like it and picked up to head to Oklahoma where he became a muleskinner, married a Cherokee woman, and eventually brought her back to Pennsylvania. Their kid married the daughter of folks who had just come from Germany (not all Germans stay put!) and their kid joined the military and went all over the world.

Then he married my mother, whose folks last migrated in 1800-something. One of my mother's uncles was a riverboat pilot; her cousins still live on a plantation. I can draw a smallish circle on a map of the U.S. and within that two-hundred mile radius resides every living member of her family. I take after her. I like my land gently dripping with kudzu and my neighbors intrusively cheerful and my food seasoned with bacon drippings.

It would kill me to move to, say, Belgium. I have nothing against Belgium. One of my friends moved there when Bush was reelected. Objectively Belgium is pretty groovy; I can't explain why I don't want to live there. I just prefer it here.

I think it was Harlan Ellison who reported talking to a Holocaust survivor and asking him why he didn't get out sooner, when the mood of the country first changed. "I owned a piano," the man said. Your perspective changes when you own a piano. And I do. I don't know if Keillor also owns a piano, but I have a feeling he understands the feelings of us piano-owners.

Okay, two out of the first seven letters (nearly 30%) have Americans contemplating fleeing the country ... er, "going off to look for the next big thing," because they don't like the political climate here.

Not that this is new. This country was settled, on the right coast, at least, by people who didn't like the politico-religio climate back in Europe. Migration west was fueled in part by people who disliked the easterly parts of the country.

I submit, contrary to popular belief, that Americans have always been cut'n'runners. Don't like it here? Forget that "democracy" thing; just cut out of here. It's easier to pull up stakes than to get politically active, find like-minded people to join with, exert the influence that the Constitution says we have. That takes years. Often, many years. Better to just run somewhere else. When it gets bad there, repeat.

Apparently, few of us own pianos - or perceive anything else of value here. Certainly nothing worth fighting for.