I'm ready on many levels for many things, including what feels like the inevitable, an upcoming election that will not only make progress impossible but guarantee that we lose much of what was gained in the 20th century. Not voting, voting third party, letting things crash and burn, is not a plan. You'd never hear those words coming from the mouths of the christian conservatives. People like to think that the republican party's demise is a recent phenomenon. But that's just not true. They have been laboriously working behind the scenes for almost 40 years. Singleminded and ultra unified. It's not a fluke. It's how things get done.