You gotta laugh. No other reaction makes sense in a world gone mad. Not that this moment in time has any lock on being crowned The Age of Dementia. The most cursory study of past ages proves that humans have always been demented. Unfortunately, in this era, we just happen to benefit from instant, global communication that allows us to witness psychosis en masse. But forget the rest of the world’s lunacy for the next minute or two and aim your sights on the good old US of A. Nowhere on the planet has performance and achievement been more revered. Pick any walk of life — we choose to reward people who earn their stripes and walk that walk. When you want someone to clean your house, you check out Angie’s list and demand referrals. When you aspire to build a home, only an experienced architect and builder will do. Need life-saving surgery? Maybe a face job? You do a CIA number on any cat who wields a scalpel for a living. Universities hire the best coaches and teachers money can buy because alumni settle for nothing less than achievers with glittering dossiers. And try getting an academic or athletic scholarship at those universities without, as they say in poker, “the nuts.” If you happen to own or manage a company, you wade through dozens of resumes to find experience, competence, character and accomplishment. After all, it’s your money, your life. Need a plumber? No beginners need apply. You get the drift — you don’t hire anyone to do anything — anything —  unless that person can demonstrate beyond any doubt, that he/she has walked the walk. Yet, in 2008, you hired a person to hold the most important job in the world — a talking head with nary a scintilla of accomplishment, not a speck of experience and not a shred of achievement — no attainments, qualifications, credentials or contributions.  Matilda, if that ain’t screwball-city, nothing is. No woman lets anybody touch her hair without a “legendary” reputation for style and creativity. Yet women by the millions genuflected eagerly, if not adoringly, at nothing more than a masterful snow job, as BO (in awe of himself) lifted his haughty chin and cleverly talked and talked and talked the talk. And here you are, almost four years later, witness to the continued derangement of a nation. Nearly 50%, or perhaps more than 50% of Americans, will double down to worship a quintessential con man who has succeeded in a monumental pretense. And despite his stupendous failure, his subjects continue to grovel in ecstasy at his every lie, distortion and fraud.  Who are these subjects? Some of them are your friends. Golf buddies. Work associates. Family members. Church members. Book club members. The people next door. Pogo knows who they are. You have no explanation for the behavior of these people who routinely exercise common sense and discrimination when vetting a clown for Junior’s 6th birthday. You want to scream bloody murder at the utter senselessness. You want to rail at the moon. You want to get away from the madness, somewhere, anywhere, far, far away from the cuckoo’s nest. At the end of the day, however, all you can do is laugh. Because, despite the most stunning, incomprehensible achievements of mankind, humans have a major screw loose. Always have. Always will.