Thursday, July 07, 2016

America Devolved!

Read it and weep. Or maybe despair. At least just a little.  George Saunders followed The Short-Fingered Vulgarian around the country, and met folks at his rallies, and writes it all down.

It's not pretty. Maybe too easy. Maybe a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. A really good writer tackling a pretty ugly subject. You do wonder about the good Ole USA. What's wrong with people? "A new understanding of America emerges." Not really. It's all sort of baffling.

The hatred, the racism, the unhappiness, the corrosive conversation. My fellow Americans. Are they as dumb, as ill-informed, as ugly, as irrational, as they appear?

Where are our "better angels?" Where is the intelligence? The native goodness? Where is the kindness, the love, etc? Am I a fool to even be asking these questions?

Too many people? Too close together? Too much cable TV and Social Media? I just can't explain it. America Devolved!

I wrote this first thing this morning, then came across this article on VOX "Limousine Liberal." Maybe there are some answers here? Maybe it all comes down to the haves and the have nots and those in the middle?


"The Limousine Liberal is a penetrating analysis of the resentments aroused by the efforts of affluent liberals to help the disadvantaged, sometimes at the expense of those in the middle,"