‘Tis good to be back in the Sonoran Desert. Nothing smells as good after a rain. Since leaving Fountain Hills in 2004, my wife and I have lived in Kaluakoi, Molokai and Carrizozo, N.M., Lihue, Kauai and Cochiti Lake, N.M., uptown Phoenix, Clarkdale, Ariz., Kihei, Maui, Laughlin, Nev., and most recently Santa Fe, N.M.

Fourteen years hasn’t changed much in Fountain Hills. The same myopic letter-writers who cheered for Bush/Cheney and the wars for profit in Iraq and Afghanistan are now babbling and gushing about the new crop of neocon jackals, and rooting for more bloodshed in Iran, North Korea, and in any or all of the official U.S. corporate enemy states.

As every good American knows, we can’t be great unless we’re attacking some resource-rich country, for no good reason other than to steal their stuff and mold them in our own image.

In fairness, the distinctly liberal-leaning crowd which populates northern New Mexico is equally misguided. They long for the good old days of the Clintons and Obamas and their wars for profit. Obama juggled seven at one time.

It seems that nearly all Americans have taken their deck chairs on The Titanic and are enjoying the passing parade of icebergs; some on the right, some on the left. None giving a single thought to the 20 million or so victims of their country’s endless wars for profit, and that’s just since the end of WWII.

As I become a Fountain Hills resident once again, I have a message for my neighbors: The system is rigged. There are no choices. It is never as it seems. There are alternatives to America’s march toward certain death and destruction. The two-party system is a farce and your “elected representatives” do not work for you.