The Election   It began with a weary Yes, we’ve got to try something. Of course, they’d been through hell — the world was against them, though they were not   to blame — it was the system, and history, they’d been stabbed in the back, their leaders were rotten, prices were impossible. They prayed   to a god who wouldn’t listen, then fell for those words — Honor! Room to live! — and made a devil’s bargain. It did not end well.     © Michael Fleming Brattleboro, Vermont March 2024