September, October, and November used to be my favorite months when I was a kid. They still are, climatically, especially as it gets cooler, but I hate that there are now other considerations. September used to be Back-to-School season, but it is now the start of Terrorist Season. The span of time between Labor Day and November that used to be merely a time of colorful leaves and new sitcoms is now Swift Boat Season, where the latest Republican lies are disseminated before the general elections with apoplectic (and apocalyptic) glee.

By 2006, so much has been stolen. Probably what I miss the most is the idea that there are competent grown-ups in charge that have our collective best interests at heart, so while there may be individual things I am worried about, I don’t have to WORRY. I also miss being able to take joy from something innocent, like a Disney animation, without fretting about the nefarious political agenda of its parent company.

Part of this is the changing perspective of maturity, but our country really has changed, and the only people I know who are happy about the way things are going are locked away in suburban cocoons, watching Fox News like it’s the commentary on a football game.

For the first time in eons, I have a sprig of hope. Perhaps, at the end of this year’s Swift Boat Season, the reigns of government will be taken away from terrible people and handed to people who are slightly less terrible. It’s not quite the Disney ending I dream about, but as events of the past few days have made clear, the time for those has passed anyway. If it ever existed at all.