Regarding comments about N.C. and Sen. John Edwards (D-NC)

As there are many respected and well known success stories from the tarheel state (two of which immediately come to mind, eh boys) it amazes me that people still think of it as hayseed. Admittedly, Barney Fife and Andy Taylor didn't do us any favors, but Erskine Bowles and David Gergen certainly have, just to name two. I don't know Mr. Edwards' politics but I do know this: If you look back to the 1770's when the delegates were meeting to form a fledgling nation in the new world, a great many of them were lawyers, and of those, most were of means.

One assumes that the references to lawyers and money that both Dr. P and Dr. S refer to, is the one that goes something like this "all lawyers are really just self-serving dirt-bags who just look to enrich themselves." I would agree with that to some extent, but there are some exceptions, surely, to this gross generalization. More to the point, though, this begs the question of how lawyers came to be seen in this light. I humbly suggest that America has changed with regards to our basic legal system very little. But I would also suggest that American morals and ethics with regard to business, religion, and government's role in our everyday life have changed quite a lot.

Of course it's all about money. Democratic capitalism was always about allowing free enterprise with little government intervention. The difference is that today we have no moral compass quiding us in our business practises, legal practises, or government practises. Christian morals were always the compass by which America sailed. This is no longer the case as evidenced by a growing number of large corporate entities being investigated by various authorities. It is also evidenced by the growing crime rate, the higher drop out rate, the lower standard of recruits going into the military regardless of their education level, and the list goes on. Unrestricted Jury awards with billion dollar pain and suffering amounts are a symptom of a society trying to make a point to businesses who have no ethical business sense -- or they woldn't produce things that could kill you.

To sum it up for you, do we really believe that a nice hair cut and lots of money are enough qualifications to be president? For that answer, we should ask the last 42 presidents, most of whom were men of means in their time - with nice haircuts.