There is a post over at Grim's about ballistic missiles and land mines, and James jumps in with a comment that set me thinking. Go there first.
BTW, now more than ever I wish this circle was larger, because I think it is a remarkably good discourse among intelligent people who are clear where their expertise ends and their extensive general knowledge plus reasoning plus answering opposition arguments begins. I am decently intelligent myself, but my gift seems to have been attracting a very intelligent crowd. It's a great legacy. Some days I fume because I have not attracted a larger crowd; other days I marvel that I can have such conversations, which I have sought all my life.
I have cynically mentioned before that in Washington, none of these places are real. Heck most of America isn't real. They are all merely counters on the gameboards of power in DC. No real people are dying or suffering. And it is mostly not about Democrats vs Republicans or conservatives versus liberals. Dominic Cummings astutely pointed out that these are intra-party and intra-movement gameboards. The players are positioning themselves for votes and alliances and prestige within their own party, because that endures more than national notoriety for all but a few, and those are chancy and situational.
Montana is just one more vote in the Senate. No people live there, only videogame characters. Should Montana feel insulted? No, because in Helena even Whitefish is only an imaginary place on the way to Banff.
No comments:
Post a Comment