September, 2019 archive
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
At The American Scholar, Elizabeth D. Samet takes a deep look at the history and meaning of the South’s Confederate monuments and the recent raising of a monument to Ulysses S. Grant at West Point. An excerpt:
Bellweather 0
Martin Longman wonders whether the North Carolina Republican Party presages the future of the national Republican Party.
This Can’t Be Good 0
It’s raining Styrofoam in Charlotte, N. C.
Just the Vaxx, Ma’am 0
At The Sacramento Bee, Mike Madrid argues that the anti-vaxx movement is a symptom of the unraveling of the social contract. Here’s a snippet; follow the link for the rest.
This self-selection by anti-vaccine “warriors,” as they call themselves, is the manifestation of a growing self-righteous ideology that believes we have no obligation for the health or well-being of each other. This emerging attitude is precisely the opposite sense of community that drove millions of Americans to be vaccinated in the early days of immunization efforts against polio.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Self-politeness is the politest kind.
Even if you are disassembling a gun, you aren’t supposed to point the business end at anyone.
One more time, “responsible gun owner” is an oxymoron.
Ism Schism? 0
Mike Littwin argues that the upcoming Presidential election, regardless of the charges of various “isms” that might be thrown about, will not be about ideologies. A snippet (emphasis added):
It can’t be about ideology when Trump has no ideology, other than to please his base, and to make sure he can encourage as many people as possible — especially those who work for him or hope to flatter him — to stay at Trump properties around the world. It sure beats my Marriott rewards plan.
He fears that, if Trump’s opponents do not understand this, they will fail. And methinks he has a point. The sad fact is that most Americans, if given a test to identify various ideologies from unlabeled, dispassionate descriptions of them, would be lucky to get an F-.
In the United States of America, we don’t “discuss” ideologies. We use them as slurs and libels labels.
