ing anyone to pa’ them for not thinking. “Ignorance niakcthrnmost men go into a parh,” obscr ed the generons HaHfax, “andrnshame keepedi them from going ont of it.”rnIspeak from admitted!} limited knouledgc: M only real experiencernof presidential campaigning (apart from goingrndoor-to-door for Stevenson when I was 11) came in 1964. 1 wasrna college student and interested in hvo girls; one of them, whornhad fallen under the spell of a Yaffie admirer, persuaded me tornmarch in a parade for Barr Goldwater; the other was an hishrnCatliolic and, therefore, a born Democrat. She was a Johnsonrngirl and dragged me out to the airport to welcome Ladbird.rnThe First Lady seemed a decent enough person to me, and onrna whim I had rooted for Lyndon in tlie 1960 primaries. (An-rnbody but Jack, I felt back then and feel now.) On the otherrnhand, Goldwater displayed more pep —though I thorougliK’rndisliked the priss)’ didactic tone and conoluted rhetoric suppliedrnby poor Barr”s speechwriters, who lost him an hope ofrnwinning the election.rnLet me be candid: I was not a Republican or a Democvat; 1rnwas neither liberal nor coirsenatixe. M- parh” was the part^ ofrnmost young men—the Girls Parh’. VVhv else do men join parties,rnif not to satisfy their three basic desires: mone, power, andrnwomen? If you are a Glinton or a Bush, on get all three, and ifrnvon are a Gore —under the thumb of an aging cheerleader whornsupports “famil- alues” and a woman’s “right to choose”-ournhave to settle for only one. (Even if elected, the Occi Petroleumrnlobbyist will wield no more power than, saw the ounger Gordian.)rnWlrenever I contemplate tire American political scene, Romanrn—not Greek—parallels come alnrost instinctieIto mind.rnWhen Galigula —who preed upon bos as well as girls —wasrnoverthrown by a eonspirac’ of his future victinrs, tire senators seriouslyrndebated the prospects of reestablishing the republic.rnThe Praetorian Guards had anotiier idea and dragged out therndim-witted stutterer, Claudius, whose agents ma’ ha e taken anrnactive role either in the conspiracy to murder tire emperor or inrnriic Praetorian plot. Some of the sci lators w ere no doubt seriousrnabout restoring tiie republic, and sonre of them were to die, oerrntiie next generation, for their republican sentiments. Most ofrnthem, however, were as cowardh’, treacherous, and self-indulgentrnas the Roman mob itself. How eager the senators were, remarkedrnTiberius on his accession to power, to be slaes.rnI say notiiing against m fellow citizens w ho ha e good reasonsrnfor supporting Al George or Gore Bush. If 1 had a businessrnor an estate to protect, I would pull tiie straight GOP le’er. Butrnwhat of all the outcasts: the Ghristians; tiie shopkeepers andrnguys in the trades; the factor’ workers, black and white, \hosernjobs arc being shipped off to Mexico or gien awa in Illinois tornlow-paid immigrants; the parents who once read I^ickens andrnShakespeare and are frightened at tiic prospect ol their kidsrngrowing up on Toni Morrison and Kate Ghopin? If tiie- arerngreen or pink, the losers have Ralph Nader—God bless him —rnto vote for; if thev are “whites” in tiic Russian sense (tiiat is, eonservativernGhristians), they will turn out for Buchanan orrnPhillips; and if the}’ are sturdy indiidualists, tiierc is tiie estimablernHarr’ Browne.rnIf all tiie minority parties can scrape up 25 to sO percent ofrnthe total vote, tiieii we shall not be wasting our time debatingrntire futiire of tiie republic. Otherwise, let us accept witii goodrngrace the Glaudius or Galigula whom tiic parh’ praetorians selectrnand get on witii tiie perennial business of man. >-‘rnDICTATIONSrnThe People, r