Sorry for all the 'toxic' political posts lately. I just deleted them out of frustration. It appears that I am being sucked into the black-hole that is the 2008 presidential election. No more Glenn Beck radio on the way home from the office! Today I brought some of my Civil War battlefield tour CDs. That should relax me.

Frankly, as a registered Libertarian, I am not voting for either of these gentleman, so why even worry about it. Honestly, I despise the state of our government and the media because they have both turned me into a cynical, miserable citizen. Even my wife and kids are sick and tired of hearing me rant. It's not healthy. I love what this country is supposed to be, but I hate living in what it has become. As a devout Presbyterian, I have to move on and accept that America's future is in God's hands now. So I will leave this topic with these timely words:

On April 30, 1811, Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Duane from Monticello about political compromise and the role of journalists in the political process:

I think an Editor [of a newspaper] should be independent, that is, of personal influence, & should not be moved from his opinions on the mere authority of any individual. But, with respect to the general opinion of the political section with which he habitually accords, his duty seems very like that of a member of Congress. Some of these indeed think that independence requires them to follow always their own opinion, without respect for that of others. This has never been my opinion, nor my practice, when I have been of that, or any other body. Differing, on a particular question, from those whom I knew to be of the same political principles with myself, and with whom I generally thought & acted, a consciousness of the fallibility of the human mind, & my own in particular, with a respect for the accumulated judgment of my friends, has induced me to suspect erroneous impressions on myself, to suppose my own opinion wrong, & to act with them on theirs.