"I was quite disappointed to encounter his "people are no damned good, therefore we need the strong hand of the state to keep them in line" mindset."

That's a good straw man, Kevin, now read that part again so you can get it right. All people aren't bad, but there are enough dirty players out there to cause major concern about the course of the game without a vigilant referee.

If this interview had gone down 10 years ago, you might have seen some different responses. I used to think I had answers -- not all of them, but a lot of them -- to the woes of the world. Now I'm much less sure. Maybe it's age, maybe it's experience, but my optimism that there's a solution beyond another revolution has waned to the vanishing point.

Jack keeps on keepin on, though. I try to keep my despair from infecting him.

FPW