WHERE'S WALDO

WHERE'S WALDO? NOT THE CARTOON WALDO WHO’S ALWAYS LOST IN A CROWD AND NOT PETER WALDO, THE FRENCH RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHER WHO WAS DECLARED A HERETIC, BUT ANY REFORMER FOR TODAY'S IRRELIGIOUS AND FOUNDERING DEMOCRAT PARTY. THE DEMOCRATS, LIBERALS, LEFTISTS OR PROGRESSIVES - WHICHEVER TERM SUITS THEIR NEGATIVITY BEST - COULD SURELY USE A VISIONARY LIKE THE FUNDAMENTALIST PHILOSOPHER WALDO. NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR THEM TO SKI DOWN A SLALOM OF PESSIMISM IN AMERICA. NOW IS THE MOMENT TO PRESENT A HOPEFUL VIEW, BUT NO PERSON OR BODY OF THOUGHT EXISTS TO REPLACE THE WHINING OF THE PROGRESSIVES. TO FILL THE ‘YELLECTUAL’ VOID, TWO QUALIFIED WORLD WAR II LIGHTS, PENETRATING THE DARKNESS OF WAR, COME TO MIND. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, THOUGH PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED, TALKED ABOUT A LINE THAT MOVED "FOREVER UPWARD." WINSTON CHURCHILL, CRITICIZED AND EVENTUALLY VOTED OUT OF POWER BY HIS BRITISH PUBLIC, PREACHED ABOUT "BROAD, SUNLIT UPLANDS." "UP MAN, UP WOMAN, UP BROTHER, UP SISTER, LOOK UP YOU DOWNTRODDEN," THE LIBERALS SHOULD BE CHANTING. "HERE ARE OUR SUGGESTIONS FOR ADVANCING AMERICA." THE FIRST PROBLEM, HOWEVER, IS THAT THEY LACK THE OPTIMISM OR IDEALISM THAT ALLOWS WINNERS TO LOOK UPWARD AND INTO A NARNIAN FUTURE.