We've been searching for a new bank/credit union. Our current institution pays a low, low APR resulting in next to nothing in dividends. We want to stay local, however, but that's not the interest I'm thinking of right now. I'm thinking about the economy and politics.

I read an article about someone on network making some comparison. Actually, it was a Fox News pundit comparing birtherism with challenging Romney's record at Bain. It requires such convoluted pretzel logic to arrive at a comparison between the two that it's clear the crazy train jumped the tracks.

And I don't care.

Cue Ozzie Osbourne, "I'm going off of the rails on a crazy train." That's what my mind hears. I'm not sure if they're the words being song. I Googled it because that's the sort of compulsive person I am and found that they are the words, except I added 'of'. Go figure. 

Now the mental jukebox is playing Red Rider's "Lunatic Fringe". 

Lunatic fringe
In the twilight's last gleaming
This is open season
But you won't get too far
Cause you gotta blame someone
For your own confusion
We're on guard this time
(On guard this time)
Against your final solution

Read more at http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858570049/#KUavsaZYmd1tjcYH.99

The jukebox is active today.

I don't care what's being said in the election at this point. Sure, it's politics and not that different from our history's politics. Been reading "Citizens of London". This is a non-fiction book about Americans living in London during World War II and their impact on British-American relationships and the war. Holding the spotlight are George Winnant and Edward R. Murrow. In talking about their relationship, their friends of the time noted how alike the two were, with one saying that Murrow and Winnant believed in foreign and economic policies based on morality. 

I realized that's where I fall. I want my foreign and economic policies based on morality and the values we claim to embody, freedom, independence and tolerance. I'm not interested in projecting power. Moral power must be earned. If a country is using military power to court friends, earn respect and political power, well, that country is a bully. I think we have a good idea how repugnant most of us have found bullying.

I liked the sketch of Murrow in the book that said he found America's neutrality before the war abhorrent. Although America was saying this is none of our business and there's two sides faction in every fight, he had seen Nazi brutality up close and noted that there was a moral inequality in the argument. What the Nazis were doing and what the Brits, French, and other countries were doing to counter Nazi action were not morally equivalent.

And that's my tale of this election and the current discussions about politics and economic policies. Our press and politicians work hard to maintain a false moral equivalency about facts and points of view. 

So be it. The election will take place. Someone will win and history will be created. Anyone who reads history recognizes how cyclical it is. We'll see what happens

That's my Monday morning rant. Have a great day, wherever you are and whatever you do. As I tell my cats as I let them out the door, "Be safe, be smart."