Friday, May 27, 2016

feather-merchandizing

When a "two-by-four" no longer measures two inches by four inches....

When a "life insurance" policy has no meaning until the subject is dead....

When what was once called the "War Department" slips seamlessly and without demurrer into a "Department of Defense" ....

There is something logical about Donald Trump's becoming the presumptive Republican presidential candidate in 2016. I'm not entirely sure if this observation holds much water, but it sort of feels as if it might: Donald Trump is a man devoid of honesty and sand and it's all good because does anyone really care that a "two-by-four" is not a "2x4?" Lies and contradictions don't matter to Trump adherents because, well, because anyone can change his or her mind later and besides, Trump is as forceful as he is incoherent. His campaign slogan -- "Make America Great Again" -- nowhere describes what greatness has been lost and what prescription might fix it.

In somewhat the same vein, a friend sent along in email a National Review essay on the arrogance of policy-wonk 30-somethings running feel-good, leftist scams on an American public they dismiss and demean with all the vigor, but less of the vinegar, of the right-wing neo-conservatives. "The Pajama Boy White House" is a literate essay and yet I found myself not quite sure of who was being called to account when the same feather-merchant criticisms could be applied both to the left and to the right. Whatever the case, it was nice to read something readable from the right.

I guess, with age, feather-merchandizing by well-shod youngsters with too little to keep them busy just gets tiresome. Yes, war is a good way to divert attention from thinking, but in the meantime, actual people actually die. It's sort of like getting hit upside of the face with a two-by-four.

2 comments:

  1. I notice they don't mention by name anyone in the 30something age group on the hill. Aside from congressional interns, i'm of the impression that the folks there run in their 50's and up. Well written and fact free seems common enough.

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  2. The planet earth itself is a koan.

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