the rix mix

Guys I long considered solid & centered, men worthy of hearing out even when I didn't agree with them, followed nutjobs like Glenn Beck over the edge, forgot they were from Jersey & used to be cool about a lot of stuff, & refuse to admit they sound like coo coo birds now. They think they're the underdogs, but not one of them is wanting for anything important. All are comfortable, well-fed burghers with  homes, decent cars, boats, motorcycles, guns, wives . No one's taking that away from them, but if they lost any of it, maybe they'd find empty spaces where they had believed  their angels dwelled.  I don't wish that revelation on anyone.

You didn't want to be like your bigoted, narrow-minded uncle, the one who griped all the way through Thanksgiving dinner that liberals were conspiring to ruin the part-time appliance repair business he ran out of his garage, but you became him anyway.