One I followed and served with fidelity and, I hope, with some modest skill. I am by nature, inclination, and heritage an optimist. But that optimism is severely tested from time to time. As when the particulars of an event are darkly and imperfectly represented. It has been said that physicians think they do a lot for a patient when they give his disease a name.
Some politicians believe they ease public anxiety when they identify the demon's face.
Senator Dole sounded the alarm. Then in a nano-second, the surge to judgment began. In the corridors of the Congress, lawmakers began to grind out laws. The critics brayed. The pundits pawed the earth.