What really annoys me are these right-wing types who preach with religious zeal about the virtues of capitalism. “You see”, they preach, “that’s the beauty of the free market. People going out, freely associating for the free exchange of goods and services.”

It’s like watching a TV evangelist with an economic theme. I keep waiting for one of these spiel-masters to try and “Heal” the economy, the way the TV evangelists seem to heal people on TV, slapping their right hand to the forehead of the afflicted, looking up into the heavens and proclaiming, “Heal! Come out of this man!”

“Brethren”, they can be expected to preach, “why is it that our economy is so sick? Do you and your family lack the sort of spiritual guidance that you need in order to be a player in today’s troubled economy? Has your breadbasket of goods turned into a radish? Do you need economic salvation?”

The TV viewer is informed that a truly righteous salvation awaits in the economics of Ronald Reagan. “Friend, the closest that you can come to being perfect in this world is to be like Ronald Reagan. Try to emulate him: To think like him, to laugh like him, to be Ronald Reagan. Believe me, it works in California, it will work here, too. If all of the world would just try to be a little more like Ronald Reagan, well, the world would be a better place.”

At this point, all readers who need to excuse themselves may do so. Feeling sick yet?

I thought Reagan was something of a bad joke. We thought we were getting free markets, less government, and economic opportunity for all; instead we got a B-rate version of Ebenezer Scrooge telling us that the “trickle-down economy” really worked. Personally, I got sick of life as a mushroom. “With this much Grecian Formula, who needs oil slicks,” I thought.

Then, Clinton came along. The situation got ridiculously worse. I suppose that we should be thankful for people like Carter and George Herbert Bush. At least they were one-term presidents!

America can be a maddening place at times.