I know you were all anticipating the exciting conclusion to our CAP/OASDI debate. Both of you. Until you took your medication. And that (sadly, the post, not the medicaiton) is still in the works for Wednesday (please, hold your death threats).
In the meantime, I wanted to post an urgent bulletin. All right, so urgent is a little strong. It happened Saturday night, and this is Monday, so obviously it’s not that pressing. But this weekend I went to visit my in-laws. This news becomes slightly less mundane when I tell you that my in-laws live in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Yes, Saturday night I went to Fred Thompson’s homecoming rally in the hometown he shares with my wife and her family.

The American political rally is an interesting thing: part state fair, part revival meeting, part high-fiber breakfast cereal, at least in the South. Especially in a small town (so if you’re keeping count, that’s one for the Bay City Rollers, one for Mellencamp), where everyone knows…well, not me, but my in-laws. And they know everyone else: who goes to church with whom, who’s related to whom, who got pulled over for speeding last night.
Normally, crowds of people worry me. People commit most of their stupidity in groups (teenage drinking, riots to celebrate sports teams, voting). But this group of people were polite and well-behaved. People apologized for bumping into each other. People shushed the rowdy high school kids who started chanting for Fred during Howard Baker’s time on stage.
I discovered two things Saturday night. First, John Rich actually has musical talent. Second, Fred Thompson may just save the soul of the Republican Party. The first policy words out of Fred’s mouth were about federalism, that its purpose is to preserve individual liberty, and that property rights are foremost among those. Sure, Alan Keyes knows that, but when was the last time a serious contender for the Presidency left you with the impression that he had not only read The Federalist, but understood it? He had me at “federalism.”
One last note, this on the cruel ironies of life: my mother-in-law went to high school with Fred’s younger brother, Ken. Ken is the one who dreamed of a career in acting, on the stage in high school and dinner theaters. Fred went to law school to support his family, and fell into the acting career his brother always wanted. [Insert lawyer joke here.]