• The way things used to be: “Politics stops at the water’s edge.”
• The way things are now: “Pelosi slams GOP as a ‘cult’ while traveling abroad in United Kingdom.”

The idea used to be that politics could be contentious, even nasty. But when people traveled to other nations, they tempered their language. They did not criticize their political opponents, and they surely did not criticize their own nation. They saw themselves as representing their nation in front of foreigners, and they wanted to do so favorably. They saw themselves as Americans and were willing to fight for their homeland if necessary.

The idea now is that politics is an uninhibited scramble for power. And when people travel to other nations, there is no reason to modify their vicious rhetoric. They don’t see citizens of other nations as foreigners, because they don’t really see themselves as Americans. They believe they are “citizens of the world,” which requires nothing but breathing. Stand up for America, much less fight for it? Why? The place is a cesspool of racism, which deserves to be totally demolished and rebuilt.

The Republican Party is a “cult”? What do we do with cults? We avoid them. We tell children to avoid them. If they cause any trouble, they are outlawed. And if that doesn’t work, force is used against them. Remember the Waco siege?

What is that faint odor in the air? It seems to be growing stronger. Oh yes, I think I recognize it. It’s the stink of totalitarianism. Better get used to it. Better pretend to like it. If you complain, you’ll be banned from social media…or worse.