GP What bugs me about this tweet more than anything else is the absolute ignorance or indifference to the fact that DC has created a wealthy, self-anointed elite caste who produce nothing of value.
GP I grew up in DC. I met my two best friends not named Mrs P in Jesuit high school there. My entire family lives there, and has lived there for generations. On Mom's side, since DC's creation.
GP But the people there are willfully blind to the damage DC does to the rest of the nation. The elite caste of make-nothings are the worst of all. In the name of doing good, they insinuate government into more and more areas of our lives, both public and private.
GP This elite caste and the hordes of minions staffing the cancerous government agencies cannot imagine government being anything other than a force for good. After all, they're completely dependent on government for their sustenance.
GP But to people living in the hinterlands (read, anything not in a coastal metropolis), we look at government + see a bunch of busybodies telling us how to live while living off the fruits of our labor. And the DC elite caste + its minions do not care about our opinion one bit.
GP The DC machine, run by this self-anointed elite caste and supported by sycophants in media, chugs on, destroying much of what it touches, ever expanding its rot and decay into our economy, our businesses, our schools, our churches, our lives.
GP People in DC don't feel the pain of recessions brought on by government agencies and rules inflating then crashing our housing market. They simply keep taxing the serfs in the hinterlands who have lost their savings, their house values, their stock values, their pensions.
GP To be fair, it's not often the fault of the average government worker. They see themselves as providing a service. And some do. It's the elites, formerly known as The Establishment, that are the disease on the body politic. They are predatory and exist solely to keep power.
GP And it's both parties. We have Congressmen and Senators who have been in DC for decades. As firmly entrenched as deer ticks on a coonhound, and as firmly committed to spreading their fiscal Lyme disease far and wide.
GP Entire industries have sprung up, allegedly in the private sector, to support and spread the elite caste's warped and fascistic view of government, a government ruling, rather than ruled by, the people.
GP Mr Kristol is but one example of this caste. There are plenty on all sides. From talking heads on FoxNews + MSNBC, to K Street lobbyists, to government contractors, all are committed to entrenching big government in all areas of our lives. After all, that's where the money is.
GP If you don't believe me, believe the government. The top 5 richest counties in America (by income, IIRC) surround DC. DC's entire economy is one giant grift, sucking money from the provincial serfs, redistributing it to favored voting blocs, + skimming their share off the top.
GP Which brings me back to Madeira. Madeira is but a symptom of this disease, a rich kids' school beyond rich kids' schools. A place where the credentialed elite send their kids. See, e.g., Mika Brzezinski, her daughter, and Mr Kristol's daughter teaches or taught there.
GP Mr Kristol's elite world view doesn't allow him to see Madeira for what it is, a thumb in the eye to every wage slave who works a soon-to-close GM line who pays the government's tithe which is filtered through a dozen hands to the parents who pay Madeira's outrageous tuition.
GP Madeira isn't an example for America in the sense Mr Kristol intends it to be. It's an example to America of the corrupting effect of the concentration of wealth and power in DC where it's seen as normal to send one's kid to a nearly $45,000 per year price tag.
GP People outside DC look in and see a bizarro world where up is down, where people who don't produce anything get rich by peddling influence, where people amass power by limiting others' freedoms, + where it's normal to spend an entire household's after tax income on high school
GP I honestly wonder if Mr Kristol is the fish who doesn't realize he's surrounded by water because it's simply his state of being or if he's rubbing average Americans' noses in it. I believe the former, since I know people like him from my years in DC.
GP But if we needed a clearer example of the absolute disconnect between DC's inhabitants and the rest of the country that actually produces stuff (and I include NYC, LA, and SFO in this group even though they're godless commies), Mr Kristol's tweet will do nicely.
GP Again, I love DC. It's my home, my family's home, and many of my dear friends' homes. But government has corrupted the entire town, rotted it to its core. This is why America's pissed off. This is why no one trusts government or media. And this is why you got Trump.
GP The people bitching loudest about Trump are the most to blame for his rise. Government + media elites created the perfect conditions for a spasm of angry populism to spit out an individual uniquely suited to be a giant middle finger to DC elites + effete world elites generally
GP I guess this is as good a place as any to end. I could go on for days about the unintended effects of government programs (e.g., destroying black families) but I should probably stop.
Thanks to Mr Kristol for being a sport and setting me off.
*wanders off to start drinking*
Thanks to Mr Kristol for being a sport and setting me off.
*wanders off to start drinking*
GorT: while I might take some selfish issue with DC (area) producing nothing of value (as GP and Volgi are natives, and I essentially am), the idea behind the thread is one reason I look to leave when possible for my family
GorT: and it is true. There is an elitism here. We run into periodically and have not pursued friendships because of it. Neither of my parents grew up with much and bettered themselves and me from their hard work. I strive to do the same.
GP And as noted, my two best friends not named Mrs P I met growing up in DC.
*whispers* that's you and volgi, gort.
*whispers* that's you and volgi, gort.
