Winston Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst form of government–except for all the others.” To the extent he intended republics and representative democracies to fall under the worst-best umbrella, I look at the world and some corollaries come to mind.

The U.S. is presently demonstrating the folly of a two-party system in which one party is irrelevant after spending its way out of power, only to be replaced by the other party, which seems to think the answer to excessive deficits is to quadruple them and turn the graft shower into a monsoon wrapped in a cyclone, with hurricanes and puppies all around.

I’d recommend multi-party (3+) democracy like they have in Europe, with their charming powdered wigs on one end, aspiring authoritarians pining for the good old days of tanks and bullets “liberating” people from the sin of wanting freedom on the other end, and quaint parliamentarians everywhere in between. But in the race to circle the bowl, Europe is Dale Earnhardt and we’re some 87-year old dude driving a Buick at 12 mph down I-95 in Delray Beach (but like British rail, we’ll get there eventually).

Europe has its own financial and economic tumors, and its entitlement-demographics arithmetic is pancreatic in its cancerous implications. Their parties are even more feckless in dealing with fiscal reality than ours are. Thus, many EU stalwarts have little choice but to watch their populations swell with immigrants who often don’t want to assimilate and who probably aren’t welcome to, as sure as native Western European bellies are reluctant to swell with babies. The problem with much of the immigration as it is happening in Western Europe (see areas where the Le Police don’t tread, French) is that I foresee it leading to horrible internecine squabbling in the distant future, and I can think of few prospects as unappealing as Yugoslavia 1991-1995 writ continentally large.

So if two-party and multi-party models are losers, why not go with a single party? If you need me to answer that, may you wake up tomorrow with Hitler’s moustache, Stalin’s pockmarks, Wojie Jarulzelski’s snow blindness (without the cool shades), and Mussolini’s final vantage point. General Franco, of course, is still dead.

In politics, Less is More. A paradox more logical than entrusting more $ to the college of Potomac bozos enriching themselves and their friends while “governing” but all too often cheating the Treasury… and then running it.

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1. With people throwing pennies around as if they were manhole covers nowadays, I decided to do an informal comparison of 2 of the Valley’s low-cost supermarkets, Wal-Mart and Food 4 Less.

Despite the declaration of the Food 4 Less clerk that, “If you come back you’ll save,” Wal-Mart is the better buy for the majority of my staples. To F4L’s credit, however, the margins were not huge.

Wal-Mart has a bit more of a pleasing aesthetic, with brighter floors / lights and less jumbled aesthetic. To the extent that the superficialities matter, shopping at Food 4 Less has a bit more of a poverty feel to it. On the other hand, F4L stocks a large quantity of Kroger products, which I myself hadn’t heretofore seen west of, say, Middle Tennessee.

Finally, Wal-Mart has the clerk place the items in bags on a lazy Susan, whereas Food 4 Less requires customers to bag their purchases. While this didn’t bother me, it did seem to inconvenience the elderly gentleman who followed me in the line–it took him quite a long time to bag a few items.

VERDICT: Wal-Mart.

BONUS NOTE: I abhor Smith’s. It’s not the high prices–they can charge whatever they want. My bank has a branch in a Smith’s, and in grabbing a few items, I noticed that Smith’s likes to prominently advertise sales prices and then mingle the sale items with similar items (e.g. same brand name, same product category) that are not on sale. “This is no accident,” to paraphrase Stalin, who starved millions on whims, so he is much worse than Smith’s–I definitely wouldn’t shop at “Stalin’s” supermarket.

2. Speaking of adventures in shopping, while standing at the Wal-Mart register recently, I found myself staring at the cashier’s arm where her sleeve met her skin, then saying to myself, does her tattoo actually say that?

I finally asked, “Does that tattoo say what I think it does?” She apologized, sheepishly, but I told her that seeing her ink was likely to be a highlight of the day. “Lots of people think it, not many have the guts to wear it on their skin,” I explained.

In nice script letters, she had “F**k It” inked on her arm.

3. United Dodge is one of the dealers that got the boot from Chrysler / the Feds. If you’ve ever had an interest in one of Dodge’s fine trucks, a beastly Challenger, or one of their, uh, other cars, this might be a good time to head over their and play low-ball. The doors close for the last time on June 9 (as of now). I might follow my own advice on this one. The Challenger is beautiful, if also a day late and dollar short.

That’s pretty bad, getting dumped by a failing automaker–here are people wanting to sell their cars, and Chrysler says no. Of couse, Chrysler and the Feds are in the process of stealing money from creditors to pay off the unions–that’s worse.

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5. The sign in the picture captures a question that greeted me (as I rolled along Lake Mead just after inflicting myself on the Valley, lo those many moons ago) and has no doubt perplexed handfuls of Vegas denizens since…

High philosophy (if your name is Chris) on W. Lake Mead.

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The author's '06 GT enjoying the view of I-15 from Zzyzx Rd...

1. Greetings and Salutations.

2. On a recent Friday night while driving along South Decatur, I passed a bar with a big (possibly less than 100% functional) electric sign advertising “OLD BEER.”

3. CA’s EXCITING FASHION WEEK

While waiting for the gas station credit card machine to process my transaction for the purchase of costly gasoline, I chatted with the clerk; she came here from Ohio in 1963 (I had guessed PA or upstate NY based on her accent).

A couple of her thoughts: back in the day, nobody went to casinos without “getting dressed” (properly, collared shirts and dresses, I suppose — maybe think “Mad Men”) but that sort of culture went out “when the corporations came in” and that “there’s no class anymore.”

The place where I go for a coke and slice of (well crafted NY) pizza, Verrazano’s on Rainbow just south of the curve, has a “No Baggy Pants” sign. I asked one of their guys and yes, they will refuse service for that. Good for them.

4. The inspiration for my recent article on the Hoover Dam Mustang Show  is displayed in the photo (above).

5. One of the most reliable practical measures of inflation is prices at the supermarket. I have noticed prices dropping, well, noticeably, during my last couple visits. Whether this represents deflation or a self-centric anomaly, well, I couldn’t really say.

Also, I recently bought a new sofa and was able to negotiate a nice discount off the special sale price. Again, this might be a freak occurence–I haggled fully expecting to get shot down, but it worked. And the sofa is so comfy I’d sleep on it in a pinch without a second thought.

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