Chocolatezilla III: Enter the Caramel

Okay, people. Listen up.
I've got to make this quick, so I'll keep it short.

FBB has just left the premises, so I've got a few minutes to get this out.
And, we've got to keep it quiet. Think of this post as having been written sotto voce. Hopefully, FBB will not read it.

This chocolate stuff is killing me.

Here's the story. A little while ago, on this very blog, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek piece gloating about how much I was looking forward to buying candy and chocolate after Halloween, at greatly reduced prices.

In reality, in our household, FBB is the one who goes on the post-Halloween chocolate-buying excursions. This year, things have spun completely out of control.

Sure, the stuff is cheap, relative to its pre-Halloween price. But we've bought more chocolate than our entire extended family could ever hope to eat in two years, and I fear that the spree is not over yet.

We're buying things that nobody even likes.

I've been asked to clear out half of my closet to make room for more chocolate.

I'm not sure, but I now suspect that we've also rented out some space at one of those self-storage facilities.

I don't want to accuse anyone of going overboard, but at one store, FBB ran into Augustus Gloop, who took one look at her shopping cart and said, "How are you ever going to eat all of that?"

To be fair, I like chocolate and candy as much as the next guy, but I fear that we're at risk of being crushed by this avalanche of discount confections.

I'm now starting to feel silly about having written that previous post.
My dream of buying deeply-discounted candy is rapidly turning into a nightmare.
As the famous saying goes, "Be careful what you wish for."

Speaking of which, that's a very appropriate quote in light of tomorrow's presidential election.

Lots of people (a majority of the American voting public, in fact, according to all the polls), think that electing Barack Obama president is a neat idea. He represents "change" and "hope."

Wow. I've got to admit, it's tough to argue with change and hope, isn't it?

But change isn't always a good thing, especially if it's done just for change's sake. And sometimes hope is rather empty.

Will everyone feel the same way about Obama if the U.S. becomes a laughingstock, as it did during Jimmy Carter's time?
When we're turning over a larger-than-ever percentage of our hard-earned money to the government via a confiscatory tax scheme, will that "discount candy" seem inordinately expensive?
If economic policies that are designed to simply redistribute wealth, thereby choking off investment, cause the current recession to deepen into a depression, will we still be so hopeful?

Unfortunately, it seems as though an Obama victory is somewhat inevitable. For the sake of our nation, I hope that we don't one day live to regret that which so many are currently wishing for.

In the meantime, if anyone needs some chocolate, let me know. We've got plenty.