Doing Freedom

In J.R.R. Tolkien's classic epic of good against evil, The Lord of the Rings, evil incarnate took the form of Sauron, the Dark Lord (of the Rings). In our world, evil is more complicated--one could only wish that it could be banished by the simple expedient of tossing an evil ring into a volcano!--but the metaphor of the rings still fits modern times. The three rings must be the three-ring circuses of our bi-cameral parliaments and their presidents, the nine could be our supreme courts, and the seven might be our special interests and their subterranean machinations. And the One Ring? That…