What a Relief - I'm Not Insane After All

I was browsing through a book at Barnes & Noble today and ran across a poem I'd never seen before. (Sometimes my education is sorely lacking). It struck a chord immediately and I should have copied at least the first line so I could find it again.

I returned home, turned on CNN, and John McCain was speaking; once again about the success of the surge and the war in general. He calls those of us who oppose it naive which is a little more courteous than calling us insane I suppose, but the general idea is the same.

The first thing I thought of (after I turned the t.v. back off) was the poem I'd just read. I couldn't remember how it started and google was no help at all. Finally I remembered I own a copy of Bartlett's. Took me about a minute to find it and then it was easy to find on the net along with several essays and study guides which I didn't read. I'd rather stay with my own feelings than have something I like dissected to death.

Here it is, saying a lot in a very few words which is typical of the poet.

Much Madness is divinest Sense --
To a discerning Eye --
Much Sense -- the starkest Madness --
'Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail --
Assent -- and you are sane --
Demur -- you're straightway dangerous --
And handled with a Chain --

Emily Dickenson (around 1