What passes for discourse, compromise and fairness in current American governance more closely resembles the law of a jungle wherein to the victors belong the spoils and the hapless prey are the likes (and dislikes) of the likes of me and thee.

Among the most frequent theses advanced in the 500-plus columns preceding this one is that just about the only thing feared by the bloodlusting beasts in both of our major parties is an informed, aroused and activated electorate.

Absent these annoying intrusions, they perpetuate themselves in power by pointing with pride to all those who agree with them and viewing with alarm all those who do not - reserving all wisdom and virtue to their fellow partisans and ascribing all that is evil to all others.

Those followers who thoughtlessly suck up this tainted Kool-Aid make it often possible, and always comfortable, for them to meet their objectives, which are as follows, in strict order of priority:

1- To get into control if they are not.
2- To remain in power if they are.
3 - To protect the assets (and kiss the asses) of those who got (or keep) them there.
4 - To feather (even if they foul) their political nests.
5 - Then, but ONLY then, to govern without violating the foregoing priorities.

For what other reasons, prithee, do we have such sacrosanct customs as gerrymandering, cronyism, seniority, lobbying, spin-doctoring and unapologetic political incest in delegating both influence and largesse.

Mind you, I hold them no more guilty of wrongdoing that those who support them for self-serving motives, without whose silver and sycophancy there would be no room for them at the "in." Choosing between these groups for the booby prize in integrity would be no less daunting a chore than identifying the sweeter-smelling end of dog poo.

There is, however, a sliver of hope in recent events, which suggest that the sleeping dogs of public opinion have had enough of their own laying idle and the lying of their elected reprehensibles.

Straddling two successive administrations with sharply divergent and equally shaky platforms, our nation has been clobbered with irresponsible and indefensible behavior, displaying the fiscal self-discipline of teen-agers with foot-high stacks of credit cards and snootfuls of recreational drugs.

Finding no fault among their political clones, blind partisans on both sides of the aisles of ideology point outraged index fingers at the opposition, while reserving their middle fingers for those of us in the "out" house of direct control.

Enter John and Jane Q. Public, who recently seem to have awakened from slumbers which were comparable in length and depth to those of Rip Van Winkle and Sleeping Beauty to the realization that enough was more than enough to mandate remedial action.

Identifying problems, a skill at which any politico worthy of the name is adept, is as easy as falling off a log or engaging in the log-rolling which is also in their basic DNA.

Facing up to them, however, is a third rail, which they approach with the acute discomfort of whores in church; they much prefer the options of blame-fixing and kicking the can of accountability down a road which, in their minds, will not have to be traveled until after the next election or the ones after that).

We of the John and Jane genre, it appears, have been giving both an earful and an eyeful of our displeasure to those elected reprehensibles and there are promising signs that it may be business as unusual in government circles.

One can hope - this one at least - that those in power will begin to realize that government "of'" the people is only one of three objectives, '"for" and "by" us-all being equally important elements.

At a bare minimum, they should be mindful that, come their next election days, they will all be reapplying for their present jobs.

And their bosses (us-all) appear to be more informed, more aroused and more activated than at any time in recent memory.

Who's to blame for the mess we're in? Fingers at the ready, folks!

Who's to start injecting wisdom into the wildness? The "ins" of all political stripes and stridences.

If they can't bypass the foreplay and come together with climactic solutions, let them move on to a stimulating "ex" life.

Speak to them now, Johns and Janes, or forever hold the pieces of a shattered dream.

Freelance wordworker Joe Klock, Sr. (joeklock@aol.com) winters in Key Largo and Coral Gables, Florida and summers in New Hampshire. More of his "Klockwork" can be found at www.joeklock.com.