I am here to tell you that ulcers, a potassium deficiency, and multiple sclerosis do not mix. Sorry to have been gone so long. That’s enough about that! I had a chance to do a lot of political listening, reading, and thinking over the last few weeks. From that standpoint, it has been a worthwhile hiatus. It has been fun watching the candidates and their “issues” slowly sort themselves out.

As readers of this column are aware, I am not a fan of the current administration. Nor am I a fan of politicians in general. In my not-so-humble opinion, most of them have been bought and sold by big business interests, and what they do bears little relationship to what we, the citizens of the country, need to have done. They live, at least in their minds, in that little chunk of real estate known as “inside the Beltway.” They are stuck there and cannot get their heads out of that constricted viewpoint to see the rest of the country.

The Bushes, big and little, have put me way off Republicans. Hillary and John Edwards are nothing more or less than privileged, wealthy members of the political gentry. Where I want freedom and hope put back into our country, they have vested interests in business as usual, which doesn’t even take notice of me, or of you. All the insiders want is to continue being insiders, to pile up more money and power, and to forget that average American ever existed.

The little Bush has made the Presidency a very attractive place by making it very near a Kingship. I want that put back to where it should be, turnig America back into a Democracy. I want the fear-mongering to go away. I want us to stand up and stop being afraid of the shadows that the little Bush has built in front of us. Is there a candidate somewhere that could do that?

More tomorrow.