PERSPECTIVE.

So I'm sitting on the couch watching Nick Cage in The Family Man, one of those holiday movies. You know, the kind Hollywood's been cranking out for decades. Hard-nosed-and-hearted businessman's life upended by some supernatural force--like, instantly plunged into an alternative reality, in which he must confront the road he didn't take, or did, and potential consequences of same. Comes to his senses, becomes loving human being, etc., etc. Right, science-fiction fantasy. No connection to 21st Century American reality. We love these stories. Loved 'em since Scrooge. Hello. Look around. How did this movie succeed? Isn't this the country where Congress passed a law that made it illegal for the Federal Government to negotiate lower prescription drug prices? Where the biggest retail chain encourages its workers to apply for public assistance? Where everything...everything...is marketing. O.K., we just shifted the Congressional balance of power a few bodies a week or so ago. Don't get comfortable. This is no movie.