Excellent Rant
E. Nough has a great piece on something that I talk about a lot: self-righteous political demagoguery and the way it gets in the way of reasoned debate. The whole essay's good, but I'm going to quote one of the best parts:
Frankly, I hate the sanctification/vilification exercises both sides of the political debate engage in; I know liberals, and I know conservatives, and the fruitcake contingent of each camp aside, most have the same principles, and want roughly the same things, which is why our society is so successful. (If either side were anything like its opponents describe, the U.S. would be one miserable hellhole to live in, that's for sure -- between all those crypto-fascist racist brown-people-killin' conserrrvatives and the proto-communist authoritarian France- and UN-worshippin' librulls.) But hey, occasional demagoguery is fun...Now go read the rest of it. It's good.
(Thanks to Jane Finch.)
This rant is not a bad one Dean. But it still cannot hold a candle to the great curmudgeon H.L. Mencken. He could rip any politician from limb to limb in ten paragraphs or less like no other journalist you will ever read.
His coverage of political conventions was nonpareil. He accurately describes politics a quite egoistic business filled with plenty of egos to fill the void. I recommend reading his “Notes on Democracy” which he regards as a second-rate book. Only Mencken would call such a gem this. If I could write as well as he I would. His volumes titled “Prejudices” are also very entertaining.
And Mencken was right there with them as an egotistical boob.
Thanks for the link and the kind words, Dean. And Kevin, you flatter me altogether too much. A comparison to H. L. Mencken -- even unfavorable -- is one I don't deserve. :-)