There is an ancient Indian story about a foolish man who was carrying a goat for a sacrificial feast. Three crooked thieves hatched a plan to deprive the ordinary man of his goat and feast on it themselves. The first thief approached the stranger with the goat and held his own nose and questioned the man why he was carrying a skunk. The fool replied that it was a goat and the crook had poor vision. A little later the second thief met up with the fool and burst into a guffaw. The fool asked him why he was laughing and the thief said he was amused that the man was carrying a skunk. The annoyed fool screamed that it was a goat and told him that he had poor vision. The thief retorted that he could see and smell the skunk and it was the fool that lacked multiple senses. After a short distance the third thief met up with the fool and he had prepared himself by having a handkerchief that he had smeared with a skunk's odor glands. He stopped in front of the fool and remonstrated him for being a filthy idiot. He told him that there was a skunk on his shoulders. The fool looked in disbelief. Then the third thief took out his skunk odor stained handkerchief and rubbed it on the goat and proffered it to the fool to smell. The fool recoiled at the pungent bad odor and threw the goat down and walked away, thanking the third thief for having salvaged his reputation and showing him the right path. After he left the thieves picked up the goat, washed it and feasted on it.

Now this is the strategy of the Republican Party and its presidential candidate. They firmly believe that if they lie often enough and loudly, they can get your vote and goat. The tax cuts mainly benefited the wealthy. The repeal of the estate duty practically never benefits the owner of a family farm. The Iraq war was illegal, immoral and has increased the threat of terrorism and is causing loss of precious resources and even more precious American lives. The Republican House, Senate and President have passed bills increasing subsidies to the rich and powerful at the cost of unemployment and impoverishment of the masses and devastation of the environment. Yet, they lie that they have created millions of jobs and given tax cuts to the middle class. They do not wish to have a single payer government health plan with low overheads and no profits, despite having it themselves. The Medicare prescription plan is a giveaway to big pharmaceutical companies, as is the ban on importing cheaper medications from Canada. Anyone who watched the three debates can tell that 'W' is dumb, inarticulate, irritable and incapable of coherent thought or speech. This is why they keep repeating lies loudly and obfuscate the important economic and foreign policy issues by harping on fear of terrorism, race, abortion and gay marriage. These are not trivial but are used to camouflage their real intentions, which are to dismantle the FDR safety net, enrich their cronies and militarily bully the rest of the world.

Perhaps whoever said that nobody ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American electorate was right, as was the coiner of the adage, that people get the government they deserve. This is not to say that Kerry has not been bought and paid for, but he has the intelligence and possibly the conscience to do some good and right, which is more, than one can say about the incumbent. He hasn't the knowledge, integrity or brainpower to be anything other than a puppet of his paymasters and handlers. This won't be the first time that we have had a moron president and not even the first time that we have re-elected a moron president. The problem is the world and times have changed and nobody is likely to go along with us in modern era.

One is reminded of a couplet describing the plight of the invincible Arjuna after the Mahabharata war, when he was assigned the trivial task of escorting the Yadava women. He was incensed but could not refuse Krishna. On the way a bunch of highway robbers called the Kaabaa, robbed and molested the women despite Arjuna, his Gandiva and his inexhaustible quiver of arrows.

'Manushya kadi balwaan nahi, sub se samaya balwaan
Kaabe Arjuna lootiyo, wohi dhanush aur wohi baan.'