Optimism on a Stick

Here, in the eye of the non-storm, on the opposite end of the Mississippi from the tumult in the Gulf, an eerie peace has descended on the frantic world of politics that I inhabit. The Republicans have all but suspended their convention; the media beast, with its cable tentacles and babbling bloviators, is for the moment anesthetized by lack of news here.

It seemed a good time to go to the Minnesota State Fair.

My Minnesota friends extol its amazing variety of food. Plus, I figured, what better place to get a sense of a swing state in the middle of the country as summer turns to fall and the real campaign begins.

My state fair conclusion: I know that the polls say that four out of five Americans think that the country is headed in the wrong direction. They are worried about where the money is going to come from for their children's education, for their own health care, for the investments in the future we need to make as a society.

But if we are on the road to oblivion—if the American Century is over—well, we are surely the happiest, best-fed folks ever to populate a failing empire. Also, the people I met were optimistic, and held a view of politics far less caffeinated and apocalyptic, and thus far more mature, than what you hear on TV and on the trail.

Perhaps I need to correct for Minnesota, with its sky-high educational standards and industrious people and generally prosperous economy.