I hear some guy is coming to Millersville today.

Actually, I’m less concerned than I was two weeks ago with the prospect of violence. The campus is likely to be sealed tighter than a drum. Violence may still occur; but in a way, the fact that we’ve been fighting over this issue for more than a month now has been cathartic. The anger has been vented online and in innummerable letters to the editor. Our local state legislators trolled for votes by expressing their outrage! It’s all been said, and today it’s done.

And if it comes and goes without a hitch, I’ll think it a landmark in the evolution of Lancaster County. Because 10 years ago - I don’t think Ayers would have ultimately come. The outrage would have been that much greater; the university might have been that much more sensitive to it. Lancaster County as a whole was that much more conservative than it is right now. And 10 years ago our kulturkampf was just getting into full swing.

Then again, maybe we wouldn’t have known who Ayers was. Only reason so many people know who he is now is because of how McCain/Palin used him in the campaign. One question I’ve never gotten an answer to is, how many of the OUTRAGED, OUTRAGED conservatives had any idea who Ayers was before all this? I’m guessing 50 percent - maybe.

So today he comes and goes, and I’m sure we’ll be bickering about it for a while. But if it does go off without a hitch - seems to me it’s a win for free speech, and yet another sign that even in a bastion of cultural conservatism, the times are a-changing.