Phew. For a moment there I thought I was going over to the other side and agreeing with Edger Allan Beem and his column on bad drivers. Then near the end he did not disappoint and made an illegal U-turn to reclaim his rightful place in the land of the wacky left.

I am referring, of course, to his statement that “he has a hunch that we are witnessing a manifest breakdown of the social contract, a pathological assertion of self interest over public interest that has its apotheosis in the tea party.”

My dictionary defines apotheosis as “elevation to divine status,” so Beem suggests that tea party members have elevated themselves to the divinity, people he asserts “who feel such an intense personal entitlement that they don’t care who gets hurt as long as they get their own way.”

As I mused over that thought I referenced other complaints mentioned in the paper; let’s see, a letter about people who don’t pick up dog poop (must be tea partiers), and “Withdrawal from RSU best for Freeport” (more tea party people). Ah, the divine right of the people to question their government and their neighbors.

Ronald G. Thurston
Falmouth