I’ve been doing my best to not comment about the upcoming November election.  Thankfully, I have a coworker with a master’s in political science, who gave me some excellent political enlightenment today, and I have another coworker who is selflessly voting on behalf of his non-citizen wife.  But I think a lot of the gravity in this election stems from image, and specifically the image of whichever party is more in tune with the majority of Americans without being too elitist or condescending.  I really like the most recent post from the blog @ the Library, excerpted here:

I know people who have graduated from Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Cornell, among others, and what strikes me the most about them is that all of them are humble people and none of them are wealthy. They all try the best they can to live harmoniously with others who express varied opinions and beliefs. These people are intelligent caring individuals yet instead of considering the value of their opinions the Republican base always chooses to blindly follow the self-serving people who have scared them into submission. Clearly, it is much wiser to follow intelligent people from diverse backgrounds than it is to follow old white wealthy men who are desperately trying to stay in power, but fear tends to paralyze even the best of us.

You can read the whole post here.  The author also has some excellent thoughts on Palin’s nomination as VP candidate (although please note that the picture of a bikini-clad Palin is certifiably Photoshopped).  I recommend checking it out, for the same of food for thought, if nothing else.