I find it daunting, the idea of turning this beached whale and dragging it back into the sea before it expires… It’s too late. That ancient fool, Reagan, paved the pathway to the ancient fools Trump and Biden, and (I’m enjoying these mixed metaphors…) now we watch them play their senile games, drooling with delight in their monstrous playpens, helpless to reach them as the stench of rotting cetacean chokes us..
Damn straight. Bill griped about being a third Eisenhower administration, but didn't have a problem buying into ",market good, regulation bad" Carter/Reaganism tradition (yes, it was under President Carter that the cracks in the dam began with airline deregulation, so now we have speedy cattle cars rather than Greyhound and long distance trains because FAA regulation kept prices up so that airlines didn't have to race to the bottom in terms of comfort, convenience and safety to stay aloft. Whether that particular policy tradeoff was a good idea or not can be debated, but it set neoliberalism on its course. (Old liberalism was originally known as laissez faire, which roughly translates to keep Parliament's grubby hands off my profits, here are some rotten boroughs for you.)
He and his cohort failed to ask what, exactly was wrong from a policy perspective with the Eisenhower administration? Granted it was a time of decadence masquerading under a cloak of middle class respectability, but it did force a compression of class into a narrow range. Rocky Rockefeller wanted to be taken for a regular guy. Status games were played out within the narrow confines of club memberships, choice of prestige wheels and other petty marks of distinction. It wasn't necessary for the Big Boss to make huge multiples of the shop wage to achieve at least sperficial social deference. (It's ironic how the wealthier the fat cats get the more they have to insulate themselves from the scorn and contempt of ordinary people when all they really want is bragging rights.).
Archimedes said "give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I can move the world." The malefactors of great wealth say "let me keep enough of the fruits of other peoples' labor and a political system of legalized bribery and I only have to compete with my equals."
Your writing rivals that of your dad’s which was eloquent in its pure humanity message. Keep writing and continue to speak your heart.
Thank you very much.
I find it daunting, the idea of turning this beached whale and dragging it back into the sea before it expires… It’s too late. That ancient fool, Reagan, paved the pathway to the ancient fools Trump and Biden, and (I’m enjoying these mixed metaphors…) now we watch them play their senile games, drooling with delight in their monstrous playpens, helpless to reach them as the stench of rotting cetacean chokes us..
If there's no difference between Ahab and Starbuck, better look for a floating coffin.
Damn straight. Bill griped about being a third Eisenhower administration, but didn't have a problem buying into ",market good, regulation bad" Carter/Reaganism tradition (yes, it was under President Carter that the cracks in the dam began with airline deregulation, so now we have speedy cattle cars rather than Greyhound and long distance trains because FAA regulation kept prices up so that airlines didn't have to race to the bottom in terms of comfort, convenience and safety to stay aloft. Whether that particular policy tradeoff was a good idea or not can be debated, but it set neoliberalism on its course. (Old liberalism was originally known as laissez faire, which roughly translates to keep Parliament's grubby hands off my profits, here are some rotten boroughs for you.)
He and his cohort failed to ask what, exactly was wrong from a policy perspective with the Eisenhower administration? Granted it was a time of decadence masquerading under a cloak of middle class respectability, but it did force a compression of class into a narrow range. Rocky Rockefeller wanted to be taken for a regular guy. Status games were played out within the narrow confines of club memberships, choice of prestige wheels and other petty marks of distinction. It wasn't necessary for the Big Boss to make huge multiples of the shop wage to achieve at least sperficial social deference. (It's ironic how the wealthier the fat cats get the more they have to insulate themselves from the scorn and contempt of ordinary people when all they really want is bragging rights.).
Archimedes said "give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I can move the world." The malefactors of great wealth say "let me keep enough of the fruits of other peoples' labor and a political system of legalized bribery and I only have to compete with my equals."
i suspect that for many reality only becomes real when it bites them...