I shall be telling this with a sigh

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Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

- From Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken

_________________________

Shy, timid, self-effacing, whispering newspaper columnists (I am one of those) are awed by the bold, swaggering, thundering heroes of our profession.

Here is a little of what Simon Tisdall of The Guardian has just thundered at all 342 million Americans.

The theme of his piece entitled The global rule of law is not collapsing, is that since America has spawned Donald Trump and inflicted him on the world, it is now Americans' duty, and opportunity, to right this global wrong.

Just listen to Simon!

"Citizens of the Republic! Impeach Trump. Declare him unfit. Rise up, rebel and overthrow him as, 250 years ago, George III was overthrown. Do whatever you must to peacefully rid the world of this gaudy, gormless usurper and dethrone this would-be king - but do it fast. Spike his guns. Shut him down. Lock him up. Exorcise the monster. The US in 2026 requires a second revolution. To escape the nightmare, to rescue democracy, to rebuild the city on the hill, the tyrant must fall."

Whether or not Americans will do what Tisdale demands of them remains to be seen. Meanwhile one can only gasp at the self-confident might and swagger and scope of Tisdale's proclamation.

Here in the twilight of my long, long opinion-writing career I wonder if I should have done more society-shirtfronting, more thundering and sermonising, instead of only shyly trying to trick my readership into learning with a laugh, only trying to........

© Canberra Times