Andrew Sullivan "expressed relief" Sunday night to journalist Jeff Greenfield "that he wasn't forced to cover the recent controversy over Hillary Clinton's emails." Added the scribe: "I couldn't imagine blogging the next election. I will not spend another minute of my time writing about the Clintons. Period. Or the Bushes."
Although I'm in accord with Sullivan's weariness over yet another Clinton-incubated Clinton controversy which somehow became (Clinton controversies always do, by Palace Guard design) a sinister plot hatched by mysterious forces, I can't imagine not blogging the next election. I haven't any ideas on what I'll do in 19 months — more on that momentarily; plus, the impoverishment of blogging gets to be even more tiresome than the Clintons — but throughout the next 18 months I'll belch at least a half-million words on the greatest, most exhilarating, most depressing show on earth. And probably piss off or permanently alienate every last reader in the process.
Ideologically I'm something of an odd duck, in that I both detest ideology and subscribe to socialism's (what little is left of it, that is). This puts me outside the tribal allegiances that most political blogs feel compelled — often for financial reasons, also — to honor. Consequently, I've no more of a sis-boom-bah attachment to Hillary Clinton than I possess for Jeb Bush. They are both, in my opinion, yesterday's hacks of impeccably calculated worldviews and invigorating only in their gaffes, although I'll say this much for the conservative: when it comes to breaking with party orthodoxy, he's gutsier than the liberal. That confession pains me, in that it announces the death of creative and derring-do liberalism, the closest thing there is to my admitted muddle of conservative-progressive democratic socialism.
Which brings me back to 19 months from now. After 18 months of amused, cyberprinted observations on Hillary's managerial blunders and self-made controversies and political banalities, can I tolerate four more years of it? Not to mention four more years of yawn-provoking Republican obstructionism of even her yawn-provoking banalities? Such, I gather, is the weariness that Sullivan feels, and I share. Even the intense polarization of the 1850s sectional crisis had an end to it, whereas American politics today seems hopelessly, eternally stuck in a standoff. I should stress it only seems that way; this will come to an end, but it'll take a couple decades, I fear, and we're only about halfway through.
Still, there's no way I'd miss the next 18 months of our quadrennial circus — the greatest show from hell. Untold campaign mismanagement, suspected scandals, real scandals, faux scandals, sincere gaffes, insincere clarifications, staff squabbles, partisan warfare, media machines gone wild, right-wing turmoil, left-wing turmoil, centrists snoozing, fake offenses taken, mountainous mole-hilled kerfuffles, encomiums to motherhood, uncourageous blatherings about courage, interminable vows of toughness, endless bows to exceptionalism, the stench of corrupting and immeasurable cash, scratchy B&W 30-second mendacities, and promises made that will never be kept — nor harbor any intentions of doing so.
Miss that? I don't know what Sullivan is thinking. Maybe he just is.
Isn't it great? It's the Greatest Soap On Earth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIqx5_w-dnk Don't bother they're here.
Posted by: Peter G | March 31, 2015 at 08:42 AM
I hope my caution regarding Bernie Sanders didn't seem cowardly. He's been bringing it to the public for years and would probably make as good a case for social democracy as anyone. However, I'll stand by my statement that a huge majority of US citizens don't know the difference between European-style socialism and the workings of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. I've heard this ignorance countless times. Most US Americans don't even realize how big a part in their lives socialism plays already or has in the US past. But in every "keep your government hands off my Social Security" protest sign there is some hope along with the silliness.
Thanks to Peter G for his unflagging cheer. I replied to him in the last post before reading this one and ended on a note very similar to the theme. May we all find the heart to be amused rather than disgusted through one more election. I'm not so sure it will take decades for things to reach a tipping point.
Posted by: Bob | March 31, 2015 at 11:29 AM
You know what I see Bob? I see progress. The first US election I ever paid any attention to was in 1968. The first book I ever read on the subject was Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail by Hunter Thompson. I've read a lot since then and have witnessed more. Watching history unfold gives me a great deal of pleasure. The progress I see is often glacial and torturous but it is all there for us to watch. I would not have imagined the progress in LGBT rights in my youth for example. When I was at university the police chief in London Ontario made his bones hunting gays. Now he marches in gay pride parades. Who could have guessed that would happen?
The world is richer now. There are less wars and conflicts now than heretofore although you wouldn't guess it by watching the news. More people are educated than ever before and they have better lives. Lots more to do of course. Lots of problems. The biggest one I see is that the relentless march of productivity improvements and efficiencies is going to leave us with a severe shortage of things that people may usefully and productively do by which they may earn a decent living. How exactly are we going to evolve towards an equitable way of taking care of everyone's basic needs? The distribution of the wealth we collectively create is the key. In the science fiction books of my youth (I was a big fan) always managed to gloss over the transition to these Utopian futures. Globally I believe we are still headed in the right direction. Cheers!
Posted by: Peter G | March 31, 2015 at 12:15 PM
In the advanced countries we've already reached a point where robots have possibly replaced a majority of the kind of workers that built our great, post-WWII "middle" class. They've also begun to replace a few professionals. I'm a retired electrical engineer and can state with some knowledge that the trend will continue to accelerate. More equitable distribution via government is likely the only sensible course. To sum up Mill's utilitarian outlook, we need the answer that will do the most good and least harm for the largest number of people. Who makes the judgments, I admit, is something of an ongoing problem. More social democracy seems to be the best answer, but it requires involved citizens instead of the consumers our current system churns out.
I've been a compulsive reader nearly all my life and still enjoy sci-fi. Iain M. Banks writes about, among other things, how societies might react after it's no longer necessary to work for a living in his "culture" series. It's great fun.
Posted by: Bob | March 31, 2015 at 02:25 PM