The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Since the dark days of Clintonian diddling in the Oval Office, American citizens have done naught but despair at the state of democracy. From townships to state government and in our nation's capital, people were far more willing to trust stock brokers and mortgage lenders than to put even an ounce of faith in government's ability to do right by them. And who can blame them? From Jack Abramoff to Larry Craig, politicians firmly cemented a reputation for being all too willing to throughly sodomize anyone and everyone to get what they wanted.

Beware Minnesotans, as you look hungrily toward the weekend of various and sundry dips, lowest common denominator too hot for TV sales pitches, and an incidental football game. For this weekend marks the opening of the Black Gates of Democracy, unleashing the unwashed hordes of political

Noam Chomsky says a well-informed populace is a necessary ingredient to any democracy. In other words, we're boned.