Greta is Not an Outlier

We constantly worry about the distortions caused by commercialism. Shouldn't we also worry about the commercial distortion of the Press?


                     Greta is Not an Outlier


One of the themes of the Democrats over the last three years has been “the integrity of our elections.” So you might expect scrupulous management of the Iowa primary. No such luck. What we got is an international embarrassment, this from the nation that has interfered with other nations' elections with pompous righteousness.

The worry should not be limited to political events; they are easily ridiculed. The worry should be whether or not idiocy is becoming a national trait. It is becoming quite clear that we are increasingly unable to manage obvious and generally agreed upon problems. We have a gigantic drug problem, we have a gigantic criminal problem, our prison population is large enough to get U.N. representation, our primary education is terribly deficient, our higher education is having a nervous breakdown, the government debt is suicidal, grown men who appeared to be reasonable leaders weep during speeches, and we have developed a new and pervasive social and political trait which may well underlie all of these deficiencies: Childishness. We simply are incapable of serious discussion that transcends schoolyard spats. It's no wonder we take Greta seriously.

Politics are devoid of any significant content but steeped in personal animosity and astonishing immaturity. The three-year guerrilla attack on the newly elected president wound down with a whimper. This lowminded and spiteful behavior merged nicely with The State of the Union address, which might become the symbol of our national decline. The President delivered a ringing declaration of success and accomplishments of debatable accuracy but presented with bombastic, theatrical assurance--performance being the new coin of the realm--and he was met with pouting and sullen silence by his opponents--with the occasional petulant outburst. Paralysis in the face of violence in the streets is just another, more recent, manifestation.

This from the most powerful nation on earth.

In essence, we are a people afflicted with significant national and local problems who are led by children who happened to be heavily armed.