The AP wire has a fascinating feature recalling the Battle Of Athens, an armed battle that took place sixty years ago in rural Tennessee between corrupt deputies and grizzled WWII veterans who’d had enough of corruption. No one was seriously hurt in the shootout but it spelled the end of the political machines in much of the South.

“The lesson is that people ought to take voting a whole lot more seriously than they do and not let things get out of hand,” said Harold Powers, a witness to the battle. “Don’t let the politicians just take over.”

How true.