Jane Smiley on George W. Bush and deserters from the Bush administration

[unixronin]

I quote (article link from ozarque):

Bruce Bartlett, The Cato Institute, Andrew Sullivan, George Packer, William F. Buckley, Sandra Day O'Connor, Republican voters in Indiana and all the rest of you newly-minted dissenters from Bush's faith-based reality seem, right now, to be glorying in your outrage, which is always a pleasure and feels, at the time, as if it is having an effect, but those of us who have been anti-Bush from day 1 (defined as the day after the stolen 2000 election) have a few pointers for you that should make your transition more realistic.

Full text behind the link.  (EDIT:  Missing link fixed.  I told you all I was spoon-depleted today .... here's additional evidence.  I didn't realize I'd omitted the actual link until cymrullewes pointed it out to me.)

I should observe that I don't agree with everything Jane Smiley has to say here.  To pick out but one example, Jane is clearly an advocate of affirmative action; I consider it an ill-considered idea in the short term, and a really bad, directly harmful idea in the long term.  It's one of those things that Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time when there was a need to Be Seen To Do Something, even if it was the wrong thing, but which in the final analysis not only does not solve the problems it was meant to address, but has actually created additional problems of its own.

Nevertheless, occasional objections aside, most of what she has to say is pretty much on the mark.  We have the government that we have today as a direct result of the policies and practices that were Business As Usual in the corporate sector which has, for decades now, had a level of influence upon American politics out of all proportion to any actual entitlement for influence that it should possess.  Figuratively speaking, we allowed the fox to help write the specifications for the new henhouse, and now we're surprised that it's full of weasels.

Comments

[bfudlmint.livejournal.com]

I've heard of Guy Smiley, but who is Jane Smiley?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Liberal pundit, apparently. I'm not personally familiar with her.