Jill Lepore’s article in The Atlantic on originalism (it’s not great) got me thinking about the 2nd Amendment. The plain words suggest that your right to keep and bear arms is conditional on your being a member of a well-regulated militia. Query: can the state regulate a militia?
OK. Good, Ted. Dallas Morning News: “Ted Cruz says FCC chair sounded like a mafia boss in threats against ABC over Jimmy Kimmel”.
He quotes Wyndham Lewis, who said times like these, when “the world is too much with us,” is like living in a moronic inferno. That’s a phrase to remember.
Last week, I posted about the country’s need to recommit to the truth in the face of MAGA’s “reality TV” theory of governance. As Catoggio points out, the left is not so great at the truth, either.
“Reality TV” doesn’t care about reality, but about presenting a version of life that the viewer can believe is true. Likewise, our Reality TV President cares little for truth, but only for what he can convince “viewers” to be true. And, as with Reality TV, the viewers go along, even if they know it’s not real, because Trump’s lies scratch an itch – for entertainment, catharsis, confirmation of biases, etc.
To get out of this mess, we must recommit to truth.
If a business in a good neighborhood gets held up, everyone talks about it. But if a business in a bad neighborhood gets held up, it’s barely news. What can the locals realistically do except sigh and say, “Yeah, that happens now”?
The president is monetizing his office in broad daylight to the tune of billions per year? Yeah, that happens now.
No wonder, then, that Americans can’t get excited about Trump’s history with Epstein. If he were a person of good character committed to ethical government, it’d be earth-shaking to find him sending risqué letters to his child-molester pal. As it is, it’s like finding out that the leader of the local gang that runs the neighborhood is involved in a prostitution racket. You might not approve of it but you’re certainly not surprised.
That’s just how this neighborhood is nowadays.
I am continually awed (and frightened) by Hannah Arendt’s insights.
Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
The passive acceptance of utter cruelty… has become the most characteristic feature of our cultural moment.