This article first appeared in Whole Number 18 of Dispatches from The Last Ditch, September 22, 1997. Although Mr. Neff introduces the piece as the first in a series, the print version of TLD was suspended before he had a chance to continue. However, I have refrained from revising the text in any way, in order to emphasize that our senior editor's options remain open, right here in our on-line forum.

To the best of my knowledge, the printed TLD had only one regular reader who described himself as left-of-center. He believed in traditional FDR/LBJ "liberalism," and in that faith he was virtually unshakable. Naturally enough, our articles never made much impression on him — except on one memorable occasion when he told Mr. Neff, "You really nailed 'em with that one." That was in response to this very article of Mr. Neff's.

Nicholas Strakon
Editor-in-chief


"Trapped" on this page? Here's the article I'm talking about. — NS