57. Obama to voters: “You deserve better.”

No they don’t, Barack. They deserve exactly what they’re getting. They voted for these people. They instructed them to do what they're doing. Nobody from Heaven came down and made them sign a pledge never, never to raise taxes. Nobody from Mars said, "Give no ground on Social Security." These are citizens in a democracy, brother. Citizens in a democracy always get the government they deserve.

I hear spite in your voice. I hear, "Me, me. I didn't vote for those clunks. I'm not a dimwit Johnny-one-note. Why do I have to suffer?" Now I'm sure you know the answer to that. In a democracy the minority always has to suffer what the majority imposes. You know that if it doesn't, if it rebels, it can end democracy. In my opinion it's your desire not to end democracy that keeps you suffering.

Yes, I won't start blowing up things, but am I not allowed a few howls? May not a man of self-control "give a loose to his soul" as Robert Frost's woodchopper did? I howl — at night, to you, to my friends — but in my howling am I doing anything more than whacking a few blocks of oak, releasing a little soul-pressure?

I think you are doing more. Frost was alone, feeling

The weight of an ax-head poised aloft,
The grip of earth on outspread feet,
The life of muscles rocking soft
And smooth and moist in vernal heat.

That's a wonderful release, but it's private. You are in a room, with others, and they hear your howling. You encourage them to howl too. You could make a chorus, howling to each other. And you know what that makes you?

I'm afraid to guess.

It makes you a lot like the dimwits you're howling about. Don't we say that the reason they're so dim, or maybe just the reason they stay dim, is that they talk almost entirely to each other — you know, on blogs and Twitter and Facebook and YouTube — and listen to the same voices on radio and television? It's the whole world to them. We say the dim "live in an echo-chamber." Well, I think you bright fellows, howling in your little room, are living in the same kind of place. And you're doing what they're doing. You're dimming yourselves.

And what would we be doing if we stayed bright?

You'd be waiting patiently for each chance to change those speakers. To break into their conversations or draw them into yours. To bring in what light you can.