The following will be something of a screed because, in light of what’s happening in Europe at this moment, I’m more disgusted than usual with the Democratic, or what some prefer to call the Democrat, Party, which I voted for in every election in the last century, and their inability to grasp or even care that it could happen here.

Indeed, it has already happened here, in Seattle, Minneapolis, and New York, not that long ago, among other places, all under their auspices. And you would have to be incredibly naive not to see that it will happen again, but bigger and far more dangerously. We are, after all, the Great Satan, the ultimate target. Western Europe is on its way out. Why not go for the gold?

But first, a personal reminiscence. As it happens, I was in Paris only weeks after the student demonstrations of 1968, known as Les Événements. (The French love their euphemisms—the better to pretend it didn’t happen and do nothing.) The cobblestones were still missing from the streets (stil are), and graffiti and political posters covered the walls. I picked up a copy of what was the most famous of them, a silhouette of DeGaulle with the words “LA CHIENLIT, C’EST LUI!” He’s the bedshitter! (Chi-en-lit… DeGaulle had accused the youthful demonstrators of being that and they were getting back at him.)

I took the poster home thinking I was “way cool.” About ten years later, I gave it to the art director of the film version of The Big Fix to decorate the wall of Moses Wine’s apartment. I have no idea where it is now.