I lived in Louisiana in the early 70s. One of the neighbors invited me over for a drink at some point and made it clear to me that blacks don't belong in the white world. We had some black academics over for dinner on one occasion. They came to our house after dark. The Old South neighbors pointed out to me that black people are not fully human and could never become what white people are. They actually believed this. Nothing would change their minds, neither Muhammed Ali or Martin King or Jesse Jackson. I started remembering this the other day when having drinks with my friend Bill T, who had worked for CBS for many years. He told me stories of the old days, of the fearlessness of Mike Wallace, or the leadership of Don Hewitt on 60 Minutes. I asked him if he was surprised at the level of polarity going on in the US, and the rabid opposition on the right to anything Obama proposes. No, he said he saw it coming. The white culture that once fought for its institutions is again in full uproar: its historical mythical superiority is having to face the complexities of a changing world. The are fighting, Bill went on, for their own survival and God, Guns and Guts; the democratization of the country frightens them beyond repair. I saw a woman on one of the shows interviewing 'conservative parents' about Obama's speech to school children: she was crying that her child was going to be exposed to a 'socialist agenda.' It's high time to start fighting back against this noisy flagrant hogwash. Carville talks about the blatant stupidity of some of these voices; there's no doubt that anti-thinking is (and has been) a popular route in many US communities. But we elected Obama after eight years of ineptitude and worse; and many of us like intelligent speech, intelligent ideas, ways to deal with the complex world with discerning thought and discussion that comprehends that humanity is a work in progress, as is political leadership, and citizenship. And the common good is still a rallying cry for a politics that means progress on a planet that needs our care and concern if there is to be a human future.