Those who have played chess professionally will immediately get the meaning of my title: “Exclam!!!!!!!” You see, it refers to when a player makes a brilliant move within the game; a move so good that it has the potential to change the outcome from there on in. You see, in the game called chess -one of the oldest in the world- we record each player’s move(s) with symbols; and once you see an exclamation mark in brackets or parentheses (!) recorded next to a move, you are supposed to take a long hard look at the move and its relevance to the later outcome of the game. It sets the stage for the post-game analysis and for later evaluation. At the end of this presidential race in early November, we will all look back at John McCain’s gambit of yesterday and we will all see the genius in this move. Whoever advised him to make this selection deserves a raise. Win or lose it was a brilliant move. 

The purpose of art (visual, music, stories in various formats) as far as I’m concerned, is communication. The message communicated could be how things are, how they really are, or how they should be, but if there isn’t one, or if the message is designed to be incomprehensible for those who aren’t in on it (like most modern art), then it isn’t really art, or at least isn’t really useful. The reason art is important is that most people’s beliefs are based on their life experiences, and new knowledge that doesn’t correspond with those life experiences tends to be discarded. I can post all the non-fiction essays and arguments, and all the spreadsheets I want here, but very few people have enough of an open mind to wade through them, understand them, and alter their beliefs based on them.

A story or other work of art, however, can serve as a kind of artificial life experience, one that broadens perspectives beyond what any given person experiences directly themselves. Properly disguised, fictional stories, songs, and visual art can therefore change more minds than carefully researched collections of facts, because the recipient of the message comes to the new perspective on their own, as if it were their own idea, not something forced on them by someone else. Such epiphanies don’t bruise the ego. I bring this up now because there is a message that needs to get out there, given the economic conditions Americans are likely to face in the next few years: that they can be happy, and live fulfilling lives, without going deeper and deeper into debt to spend more and more money on more and more goods and services that they may no longer be able to afford.

Senators: Lisa Murkowski, Alaska(?!?); Olympia Snowe, Maine; Susan Collins, Maine; Elizabeth Dole North Carolina; Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas

Governors: Oline Walker, Utah; Linda Lingle, Hawaii, M. Jodi Rell, Connecticut

Members of the House: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Florida; Deborah Pryce, Ohio; Barbara Cubin, Wyoming; Sue Myrick North Carolina; Jo Ann Emerson, Missouri; Kay Granger, Texas; Mary Bono, California; Heather Wilson , New Mexico; Judith Borg Biggert , Illinois; Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia; Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee; Ginny Brown-Waite, Florida; Candice Miller, Michigan; Marilyn Musgrave, Colorado; Thelma Drake, Virginia; Virginia Foxx, North Carolina; Cathy McMorris Rodgers, West Virginia; Jean Schmidt, Ohio

Cabinet: Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State; Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor; Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education; Mary Peters, Secretary of Transportation; Susan Schwab, US Special Trade Representative