On November 24 2002, Lucio Gutierrez swept to power in Ecuador's presidential election. It was a momentous victory for the populist, leftwing leader who had pledged support for the poor indigenous Indians in a country where 60% live in poverty.

To get from downtown Atlanta to the First Iconium Baptist Church, take Ralph David Abernathy freeway and follow the signs to the Confederate complex. Outside the church a welcome board states: "If you are headed in the wrong direction God allows U-turns."

This is a tale of two love cheats and the many paths yet to be cleared on the road to Brokeback Mountain. The first is the former governor of New Jersey, James McGreevey. On August 12 2004, with his wife at his side, McGreevey confessed: "At a point in every person's life, one has to look deeply into the mirror of one's soul and decide one's unique truth in the world, not as we may want to see it or hope to see it, but as it is. And so my truth is that I am a gay American."

This is the basic civics lesson on which every American child is raised and which few adults seriously question. Politicians themselves are held in low esteem - a CNN/USA Today poll last week showed 49% of Americans think their legislators are corrupt. This is generally regarded as the product of individual venality rather than an institutional virus. But if Americans still believe that after last week, then they don't know Jack.