Hope Without Hope?

Hope without hope? Doesn't make sense, does it? I mean, what are they talking about? What?

The presidential election, of course. Here we are just 48 days until what I call D-Day -- Decision Day. I remain convinced that given the perilous condition of this time in our history, time is not on our side for the perils are most likely to be catastrophic if not confronted forthrightly; and, even if they are addressed with courage and intelligence, there's no solid assurance that the worst-case scenarios can be avoided.

Global warming is a factual phenomenon. We have something like 40 to 50 years to minimize the devastating effects of irreversible global warming. Long before that deadline, the global water problem will have wrought deadly serious mass starvation and dislocations in many parts of the planet.

We've faced the threat of nuclear winter for six decades and that threat has not been diminished during that time period, rather it is greater now with more members of the nuclear weapon club growing each decade, and international terrorists more experienced in finding chinks in our defense.

With the advance of global warming comes an inevitable disruption of food supplies for many of the world's population, which continues to grow far beyond a sustainable level. The world community before long will be forced to decide whether to deal harshly with the issue of "freedom to reproduce yourselves" It's either curtail population growth voluntarily or by natural selection; i.e., survival of the fittest.

Through the next batch of time (next four years) we need a strongly principled and realistic leader for our nation. At best, he will be able only to redirect the course of our ship of state -- modestly. The super problems will remain unsolved, but they can begin to be addressed seriously.

I have believed fervently that that leader is Barack Obama and I've supported that belief with far more money than I'm willing to tell the missus.

Likewise, I most fervently hope that McCain will not become our leader -- the best I can say is that he is a doomed romantic and a faux populist who has even less governance ability than his friend, George W. Bush -- the worst President ever.

I'd rather not tell Mr. Pant about my hopeful hope in the face of hopeless fears. Obama is up and denouncing McCain as "not getting it". We know that -- my far greater fear is that the majority of the voters don't get it.

When I see Mr. Pant, I'll simply ask him -- uh, er, hey -- who do you favor to win? Will he know what I'm talking about? Should I ask him who he's planning to vote for? Has he registered? Is he even following our quaint ancient custom of choosing leaders? Does he even have a TV set? Can he read? What does he read? I mean, what language? Yes, I'll corner him with questions.

Yeah, sure. Corner. Who's the romantic?

I suspect my Mr. Pant will be curiously detached from my concerns. If indeed he is the guest observer I believe he may well be, he may point out that the vast bulk of life on planet Earth is not our minuscule species. Even if there is a nuclear holocaust, it'll clean itself up in a dozen centuries or so. "No big deal," he might say.