tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post3490779161853363435..comments2024-03-29T05:29:08.934-05:00Comments on Every goddamn day: 03/29/24: "The secret weapon of democracy"Neil Steinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-63114901385355938542020-11-22T18:54:20.671-06:002020-11-22T18:54:20.671-06:00Gun owners think that Clinton and Obama were after...Gun owners think that Clinton and Obama were after their guns. Farmers and downstate small town folk assume we laugh at the rubes, but ignore their own scorn for big city intellectuals. Truth has taken a back seat to Denial for quite some time. I was 3 months shy of my seventh birthday when Stevenson lost in '56, my first political awareness was my Mother and Grandmother crying for Adlai. Arguments about Adlai's potential worth versus Ike aside, I'd settle for an election with 2 equally qualified and truly patriotic candidates next time. JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08613528527379198505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-50784192444350337092020-11-22T02:58:04.179-06:002020-11-22T02:58:04.179-06:00"Your days are short here; this is the last o..."Your days are short here; this is the last of your springs. And now in the serenity and quiet of this lovely place, touch the depths of truth, feel the hem of Heaven. You will go away with old, good friends. And don't forget when you leave why you came."<br /><br />What a wonderful and thought-provoking gift Stevenson gave to those graduates. Could have been anywhere...Northwestern, Harvard, or any campus at all. It's called commencement for a good reason...the great adventure called life is about to begin. <br /><br />But something beautiful is ending, too.The final spring of one's college career is bittersweet. The sand in the hourglass is running down. One sees the campus in all its spring finery for one last time. The trees and the lawns and the buildings never look better, because one knows they will soon be left behind. As will all those friendships. <br /><br />Every graduate has a different reason for remembering why he came, on the day he departs. It was quite a jolt, one day last June, when I suddenly realized that it had been fifty years since my commencement. It all went by so fast.<br />Grizz 65https://www.blogger.com/profile/02892702223228764894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-66333516319882589712020-11-21T18:18:37.428-06:002020-11-21T18:18:37.428-06:00tate - Oh, I know very well what you were calling ...tate - Oh, I know very well what you were calling idiotic. I was just basically agreeing with your statement that "voting for Eisenhower wasn't necessarily anti-intellectual."<br /><br />FWIW, Eisenhower wasn't a bad president IMO. He got us out of Korea, which was actually easier for him as a Republican, since the other Republicans couldn't fuss and scream about an armistice that basically left the war as a tie. ("I would have been crucified for that armistice," Harry Truman said afterward.) After that, he got lucky in that he didn't face any really major tests or crises.<br /><br />So he was pretty OK as a president, but Stevenson would have been better IMO. But as I said before, he was handicapped by anti-intellectualism.<br /><br />Bitter Scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04645909858616987997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-88644329936576616152020-11-21T09:08:31.952-06:002020-11-21T09:08:31.952-06:00Bitter: I didn't mean to say that your implica...Bitter: I didn't mean to say that your implication was "idiotic," but that anti-intellectualism was and is. I quit arguing with my FaceBook "friends" when they stated that all experts were wrong about everything. They also ramped up the nasty demeaning language that has been hallmark of the Trump Era. Unfortunately, there's more than a bit of that species of rhetoric infecting the anti-Trumpers. Not a good way to go, I think you would agree, Mr. Scribe.<br /><br />johntatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088632798195131329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-91676903128918259492020-11-20T20:28:40.697-06:002020-11-20T20:28:40.697-06:00Great analysis, but the problem is that they don’t...Great analysis, but the problem is that they don’t care about facts, it’s all about “feelings” and “that’s my opinion, its a free country.” No idea how 70 million people buy into this, but its scary for our future.TomTwainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17038737612028216431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-5271419724376544292020-11-20T19:55:52.616-06:002020-11-20T19:55:52.616-06:00tate - I didn't mean to imply that everyone wh...tate - I didn't mean to imply that everyone who voted for Eisenhower was dumb or anti-intellectual or anything like that. I just meant that the image of Stevenson, the whole "egghead" thing, didn't fit with the macho politics (in both parties) of the time. He was seen in many quarters as smart but weak or feckless, and I think anti-intellectualism played a big part in that.Bitter Scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04645909858616987997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-77587527239136907892020-11-20T18:06:34.182-06:002020-11-20T18:06:34.182-06:00Columbia University didn't care about Eisenhow...Columbia University didn't care about Eisenhower's intellectual ability. They wanted a war hero & got him & I assume they figured that they would get more students & more donations because of him.Clark St.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09634234069783123180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-55522644693197939462020-11-20T16:10:26.676-06:002020-11-20T16:10:26.676-06:00The "anti-intellectualism" you mention i...The "anti-intellectualism" you mention is simply idiotic. Would you hire your permanently out-of-work buddy from high school to wire your house, a daily-pay dropout to fix your plumbing, a mechanic to perform your heart surgery? Insisting on qualifications isn't elitism in my book; it's common sense. Of course, voting for Eisenhower wasn't necessarily anti-intellectual. After all, he had demonstrated administrative ability during the War and was intellectual enough himself to get a job as a college president, but certainly Stevenson would have done much better had the electorate valued intellect a bit more and without a doubt Mr. Trump would have done much worse.<br /><br />john<br /> tatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088632798195131329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-53662289764354564402020-11-20T14:35:58.609-06:002020-11-20T14:35:58.609-06:00Stevenson was a fine man who never got his due pol...Stevenson was a fine man who never got his due politically. I think he was a victim of the anti-intellectualism that often retards progress, or throws it back, in this country.Bitter Scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04645909858616987997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-3864498688939916412020-11-20T13:06:00.866-06:002020-11-20T13:06:00.866-06:00An excellent, bracing, though ultimately depressin...An excellent, bracing, though ultimately depressing post, to me. I agree that facing reality is the only effective way forward. I'm not at all sure that it's a winning strategy in this benighted nation. It certainly wasn't for Stevenson in 1952 or 1956, and things have only gotten worse -- much worse when it comes to our current Maximum Leader -- since then.<br /><br />From trickle-down economics to blaming Iraq for 9/11 to "a corporation is a person" to "money is speech" to "I alone can fix it" to "I won this election, by a lot," it's been quite a descent since blue-collar folks were persuaded to hail Ronald Reagan as a saint.<br /><br />For 73 million, facts take a back seat to Fox. If 250,000 people dying from what their messengers have told them is a hoax hasn't brought them around, I don't know what will.Jakashnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-16649714003911614702020-11-20T11:49:41.260-06:002020-11-20T11:49:41.260-06:00an absolutely elegant quote. an absolutely elegant quote. pgwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03804745965409667786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-82382344200819364522020-11-20T09:03:51.287-06:002020-11-20T09:03:51.287-06:00Very nice.Very nice.J. Pabsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11566801024154623288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-20927656303043923442020-11-20T06:42:52.673-06:002020-11-20T06:42:52.673-06:00Self criticism, candor, and confession are good fo...Self criticism, candor, and confession are good for all souls. Not always fun but always allows for growth.Leshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16679840606511726447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-41756492946211705262020-11-20T05:50:04.525-06:002020-11-20T05:50:04.525-06:00Thank you.Thank you.Lubin Bissonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09507966841823280671noreply@blogger.com