"Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it. . . ."

The opening of "The Lord of the Rings" — as interpreted by filmmaker Peter Jackson — is haunting, if not actually accurate. (Among the immortal elves, there were indeed some who remembered the failure to destroy Sauron's One Ring when the first opportunity arose -– just as some few of us today "remember" what's been lost from our mostly more wholesome American past.)

Once you've seen and heard it, who can fail to acknowledge, "Yes, the world is changed, and much that once was is lost"?

For instance . . . We used to believe deciding who to vote for involved finding someone with whom we could agree about how to best protect America, our free-market economy, and our precious constitutional and individual rights, who also appeared to be a person of character, willing to stand up for principle.