Well, I did say I was sick of us always being the angry ones

I was in the Biography bookstore over the weekend, looking at a copy of On the Road, the Original Scroll, which was on sale for $8.98 in hardcover, when suddenly I heard somebody outside ranting in a loud, angry voice. I looked through the open door, and saw a tattooed skinhead/heavy metal type walking past, his sleeveless shirt-front bedecked with what were obviously political buttons, although I couldn’t make out who they were for or what they said. He was yelling in an ugly, scary tone, turning this way and that, his face a contorted mask of hate. “Acorn is instigating voter fraud and he’s in it up to his neck! He’s a fucking terrorist! He’s a fucking terrorist! Bill Ayers and him, they’re thick as thieves! Can't you understand that we’re gonna having fucking socialism if we let these fucking terrorists win!”And then he was out of sight, though I could hear him still, as he continued ranting his way through the West Village. In his wake, people looked down the block after him. I continued to the cash register and purchased my book, then walked out of the store. I could still see him, across Hudson Street, lunging as he spat out his angry bile. And I found myself thinking, irrationally, that I might actually try to engage him and ask him a few things. In the next instant, however, I realized the stupidity of that. He was a raving lunatic. Best to stay as far the hell away as possible. It was disturbing, seeing that kind of anger. It made me afraid, afraid for Obama, afraid for the country.

Now, it's a few days later, the morning of the third and final debate, and the desperate, flailing “Country First” hypocrites seem to have nothing left in their arsenal. Maybe they'll continue the negative assault that has inflamed the crazies at their rallies and elsewhere, though perhaps not in such naked and ugly a form. Certainly the McCain campaign's demonization of Obama has fomented hatred and given license to those so inclined to express feelings that might otherwise be submerged or heavily edited.

I do know that when I saw the video of one of these recent Palin-McCain rallies and heard the crowd thunderously chant U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! I shuddered and thought of Weimar in the ‘30s. It seems clear that when racism and nationalism are given a platform, fascism and violence aren't far behind. My uncle Norm always said that probably the only thing keeping this country from falling into fascism was another Depression. Well, here we are, on the brink. And I'm afraid that even if we win this election, we won't be out of the woods. Four years from now, if things don't improve, or if they get worse, we may find ourselves in a fight for the soul of this country that will make this "most important election of our lifetime" look like the undercard.