If I haven’t mentioned it before, I have become a big admirer of Jonah Goldberg’s writing and thinking. Unfortunately, there are very few people left that I can say that about in the political world.
If you are not subscribed to his weekly newsletter, you should be. It’s chock full of wit, wisdom, intellect, and incredible insight. Every time I write an article that I think is awesome, I read one of Jonah’s pieces and think, “Wow, not only am I not in the same ballpark with Jonah, I’m not even on the same planet.”
Anyone who can start with Plato’s Cave and segue seamlessly into Galaxy Quest has a gift. Jonah does it, and succeeds to make an excellent point.
Anyway, his newsletter piece from yesterday (National Review) hits it out of the park (on any planet) and pretty much makes moot all of the editorials that I had contemplated for the next week (and many from the last week). Here’s a little teaser:
But back to my larger point. For months, I’ve been banging my spoon on my highchair about how the legislative branch is acting like a Parliament of Pundits. Senators and congressmen on the right and left seem more concerned with getting primetime spots on cable-news shows than actually legislating. As a result, politicians are using their positions to craft entertaining talking-points for TV debates and diatribes that have only passing relationship to reality. They’re going along with the Thermians, playing to their faith in shadows and making little effort to engage with the truth. On the left, the mess at the border can’t just be bad, it must be Kristallnacht and Auschwitz. On the right, the idea that the president colluded — whatever that may mean — with Russia is the “greatest mass hysteria” in American history and a “total witch hunt.”At least until very recently. This week, the allegation Trump colluded with Russia is suddenly no longer an insane conspiracy theory and slander, it’s not really a problem at all.
Please, read this article, and get signed up to receive all of his weekly pieces. You won’t be sorry.
