"It’s only a matter of time before he gets in front of the cameras to thrust his ice cream cone into a 9-year-old girl’s hair, and licks it clean, cameras rolling."
Alternatively: It's only a matter of time before he sniffs his ice cream and licks the little girl.
Spot on, Glenn. At 81, I am aware of my encroaching feebleness. Not bad yet but sometimes names and words that I know escape me. Someone said that if you are aware of your forgetfulness etc, then you don't have Alzheimer's. Hope so. We are much more productive and alert at a younger age despite the stories about 90 year olds inventing things, writing novels etc.
Another element with men...testosterone...something that is both good and bad. The oldest man in the gunfight at the OK corral was Virgil Earp at 38...Billy Clanton was 19. If the argument between the Earps and Clantons involved a bunch of 50-60 year old guys, I feel sure something more peaceful would have been worked out without a toe to toe gunfight on a downtown empty lot with spectators looking on.
Plato’s philosopher kings were quickly discarded by our Founding Fathers because our Founders, in homage to our Divine Creator, realized that all men (i.e., people) are created equal and that “philosopher kings” foisted onto to the public are just as corruptible and sinful as the village pickpocket or the local adulterer.
That is why the Founders brilliantly divided the powers of government via Federalism and the separation of powers. In America, no one politician can wield political power in the manner of Plato’s philosopher king. That’s the feature of our system, not a bug.
The late William F. Buckley, Jr. also had some great insight about who he would trust more to govern the affairs of American citizens …
“I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.”
Buckley too realized the inherent fallacies of those ivory tower academicians who, full of pomp and circumstance, undoubtedly see themselves as worthy of fulfilling the role of Plato’s philosopher kings.
Additionally … in one last reference to Plato along with his allegorical cave, our current political class, establishment media, academia, and so much of the other American institutions we all used to trust, seem to be on a turbo-charged gaslighting mission of the American people.
There was “it depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is,” WMDs in Iraq, “you can keep your doctor” with Obamacare, the Russia hoax, and even the now “the border is secure,” and/or the inability of a SCOTUS justice to define what a woman is, among countless other lies, frauds, and ambiguities perpetrated onto the American public.
So many Americans are like that prisoner chained at the bottom of Plato’s cave, and compelled to watch the shadow shows put on by their jailers. Only when the prisoner escapes his captors and exits the cave does he emerge to see the sunlight and the truth of the world, as opposed to the shadows he was shown to be “truth” by his former cave tormenters.
As I remember the allegory … the former prisoner, having seen the light of truth in the sunlit world, decides to return back down into the cave to convince his fellow prisoners to escape. The remaining prisoners, too conditioned and too believing of the shadow shows, promptly kill the freed man because of their refusal to believe his tale and experience of sunlight and truth outside of the cave.
Anyways … that’s how I remember the allegory.
Here’s a link to Plato’s Cave or sometimes called The Allegory of the Cave:
Plato was a smart and very deep thinker, but his notions of “philosopher kings” would only end up in a tyranny by the most educated. We would end up being ruled by condescending moral busybodies who govern us for our own good. Imagine Buckley’s nightmare scenario in which all of our political leaders are chosen only from the Ivy Leagues.
Lastly … this notion also dovetails into another famous quote by C.S. Lewis, and his view about tyranny:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”
I was about to post a comment, but after reading yours, there is little left for me to say. A bravura performance. Plus, any comment that references C.S.Lewis is automatically a keeper in my estimation.
Truth is I find lots of inspiration from Glenn’s musings and columns as he and nearly everyone else who participates in Glenn’s blogs all come across as serious and deep thinkers. I don’t know what my I.Q. is, but I like to think that if I surround myself with highly functioning and high I.Q. fellow Americans, that at least some of your intelligence will rub off on me.
This also probably explains why I like to reference and cite quotations, like Plato and his cave allegory from The Republic, or William F. Buckley, Jr., and even C.S. Lewis too. These great minds, and others like them, have said things so much better than I could ever do.
As a Navy veteran and retired federal LEO pushing 60 years, I still feel like I (and all of the rest of us) stand on the shoulders of giants … our Founding Fathers and other great Americans and historical world figures who have significantly contributed to the betterment of humanity, and the advancement of our western civilization. My life and experiences seem quite insignificant and lacking compared to these giants.
As Glenn has written in his most recent column, I too fear that our current politicians, two of whom have a combined age of 158, are dragging us all back into an abyss.
Regardless … I only wish hope for the future and Godspeed to you all here. G’day.
At 74, I sometimes have to think for a couple of minutes to come up with an old actor or singer's name. I can usually do it within a matter of a minute or two. I always know where my keys and phone are. At 80, I have no idea how I will function. I do know 80 year old men who are still sharp as a tack. I know others who are tarp as a shack. One who is 86 now has lost some ground since he had a stroke. Prior to that, he was fine. I'm sure most of us have our own stories about older folks who are still doing real well but it takes a certain ego to want to be the leader of a country. Few have that.
I like the country our founding fathers created. Some of the amendments helped perfect it.
As far as I can tell, we have a hard choice to make. Republicans only have one candidate who has that snow balls chance to beat Biden, IMO. He's far from ideal. I hope he picks a great running mate, just in case we need the VP to step up. I wish tomorrow was November.
Glenn. Hilarious and agreed! Neither should be nominated. I have solved my "losing car keys problem", by wearing them as a necklace (it's a bob, not actually keys) throughout the day when I'm driving. One day a store clerk sincerely commented about the beautiful necklace I was wearing. And as to forgetting names, I have a rule with my fellow seniors. When the name does come to mind, you are allowed to blurt it out, no matter when or where in the conversation.
Biden shows his age, and more. Trump seems to be all there, and if he taps Vivek to be VP then I will be happy and not just voting for the least worst candidate.
Apple Watch can find iPhone. iPhone can find AirTags on your car keys. A smartphone is used as car key by Tesla. Else one uses a smart card the size of a credit card.
Good column worthy of Jon Stewart. We are screwed. American democracy is broken. There are big changes coming soon (maybe even this year), we don't know what they will be, but we can be pretty certain they will be painful. One thing though . . . why did you have to call Joe Biden a pedophile? Zero basis for that comment and it took your political humor over the line to baseless viciousness.
Well, there's the hair-sniffing of little girls who are complete strangers to him. And then there's the report from his daughter that he used to get into the shower with her when she was a child. Maybe it's all harmless, but it's not exactly normal.
I agree that you were inaccurate in your description of Joe Biden as a mere pedophile. He is an incestuous pedophile. Please remember that for future reference. You're welcome.
There are also rumors that come from the Secret Service. I worked for a company with a Washington office. I knew a lot of guys who worked there. Their wives were friends with Secret Service agents wives. Stories were told about old Joe and his propensity to take off his clothes and get frisky with females who were unfortunate enough to find themselves in a confined area with the old pervert.
I can't say that these stories were true or not. They did sound believable.
There are some good ones that were told about Hillary too... but covered different vices.
In my opinion Glenn, this is one of your most objective and balanced articles I have read in the past two years. I take issue with one of your comments in reference to Biden - You state - "clumsily trades access for money for his corrupt family..." By omission, one can assume that Trump & Family are not corrupt. When, in fact, in less than 24 hours if Trump & Family could be fined up to $370 million dollars, as he and Family have already been found guilty of FRAUD! In addition to the monetary fine, Trump and Family could be banned from doing business in New York for life! The losing will continue as long as the Congressional Republicans fall in lock-step with #45. For anyone wondering where I stand politically, I am a moderate Republican.
Age, shmage. Since Biden’s obviously not behind the wheel anyway, it doesn’t matter what puppet the regime replaces him with, since he or she won’t be driving the car either. As for Trump, who or what else is there? None of his better competitors could stay in the ring with him, and as for Haley, the Republicans might as well nominate Mitt Romney again — or John McCain, who’s only slightly more dead than Biden. Who besides Trump is not owned by the Masters of the Universe? It’s Trump or death, my friend.
Respectfully, I disagree with Glenn's thesis. Ok, many in the past did great work in their 20's and 30's, and of that there is no doubt, but they were an exceptional few. However, because the "president" is a mental bag of goo that doesn't describe Trump. There are older people who have the physical and mental vitality of someone much younger and chronological age should not be so determinative. I remember Ben Franklin's "Many men die at 25, but aren't buried until they're 75" on that subject.
The Venetian Republic is a good government model to use for a start. The longest-lasting single system in history. Democracies are inherently unstable. They last until the population figures out it can vote itself more and more money until it goes broke.
Churchill was a lousy strategist. Gallipoli in World War I was a disaster. After Dunkirk, if the Brits had minded their own business, the Germans and Russians would have slugged it out until the last one from each army was hunting down the other in the snow. After they met we would have had only one man to kill. But the Brits "fought on" with bad generals who surrendered to inferior forces (Singapore, Crete, et al)) and lost their empire.
Interesting take on it. I mean that in a good way, Charles.
As for the Venetians, I liken them to the philosopher kings/politburo system. Except their power was kept in check by the Vatican and the law of God. Hmm, there might be a useful model here....
The Vatican had little authority in Venice, Glenn. The Pope could not stop the Venetians sacking Constantinople, another Christian city, on their Crusade as much as he protested. And remember, Galileo thrived there and got rich (until he blew out his own market) and did not get into trouble for thinking the earth went around the sun until he moved to Florence to get in on the real estate boom.
Name someone who is younger running for president that will hold China accountable, unleash American hydrocarbon energy which neutered our enemies and gave us the highest purchasing power of our lives, de-regulated us by the tens of thousands, cut our corporate tax rate from the highest in the world(39%) to 21%, and controlled immigration holding corrupt Mexico accountable?
It isn't Ron DeSantis. It isn't the younger Nimrata Haley. They belong to globalists Ken Griffin of Citadel and Paul Singer who funds the transtesticles. Oh, wait... It was Donald Trump who works 18 hours per day.
"It’s only a matter of time before he gets in front of the cameras to thrust his ice cream cone into a 9-year-old girl’s hair, and licks it clean, cameras rolling."
Alternatively: It's only a matter of time before he sniffs his ice cream and licks the little girl.
Spot on, Glenn. At 81, I am aware of my encroaching feebleness. Not bad yet but sometimes names and words that I know escape me. Someone said that if you are aware of your forgetfulness etc, then you don't have Alzheimer's. Hope so. We are much more productive and alert at a younger age despite the stories about 90 year olds inventing things, writing novels etc.
Another element with men...testosterone...something that is both good and bad. The oldest man in the gunfight at the OK corral was Virgil Earp at 38...Billy Clanton was 19. If the argument between the Earps and Clantons involved a bunch of 50-60 year old guys, I feel sure something more peaceful would have been worked out without a toe to toe gunfight on a downtown empty lot with spectators looking on.
Plato’s philosopher kings were quickly discarded by our Founding Fathers because our Founders, in homage to our Divine Creator, realized that all men (i.e., people) are created equal and that “philosopher kings” foisted onto to the public are just as corruptible and sinful as the village pickpocket or the local adulterer.
That is why the Founders brilliantly divided the powers of government via Federalism and the separation of powers. In America, no one politician can wield political power in the manner of Plato’s philosopher king. That’s the feature of our system, not a bug.
The late William F. Buckley, Jr. also had some great insight about who he would trust more to govern the affairs of American citizens …
“I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.”
See: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/30244-i-would-rather-be-governed-by-the-first-2000-people#:~:text=“I%20would%20rather%20be%20governed%20by%20the%20first,faculty%20of%20Harvard.”%20―%20William%20F.%20Buckley%20Jr.
Buckley too realized the inherent fallacies of those ivory tower academicians who, full of pomp and circumstance, undoubtedly see themselves as worthy of fulfilling the role of Plato’s philosopher kings.
Additionally … in one last reference to Plato along with his allegorical cave, our current political class, establishment media, academia, and so much of the other American institutions we all used to trust, seem to be on a turbo-charged gaslighting mission of the American people.
There was “it depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is,” WMDs in Iraq, “you can keep your doctor” with Obamacare, the Russia hoax, and even the now “the border is secure,” and/or the inability of a SCOTUS justice to define what a woman is, among countless other lies, frauds, and ambiguities perpetrated onto the American public.
So many Americans are like that prisoner chained at the bottom of Plato’s cave, and compelled to watch the shadow shows put on by their jailers. Only when the prisoner escapes his captors and exits the cave does he emerge to see the sunlight and the truth of the world, as opposed to the shadows he was shown to be “truth” by his former cave tormenters.
As I remember the allegory … the former prisoner, having seen the light of truth in the sunlit world, decides to return back down into the cave to convince his fellow prisoners to escape. The remaining prisoners, too conditioned and too believing of the shadow shows, promptly kill the freed man because of their refusal to believe his tale and experience of sunlight and truth outside of the cave.
Anyways … that’s how I remember the allegory.
Here’s a link to Plato’s Cave or sometimes called The Allegory of the Cave:
https://interestingliterature.com/2023/03/plato-allegory-of-the-cave-summary-analysis/#
Plato was a smart and very deep thinker, but his notions of “philosopher kings” would only end up in a tyranny by the most educated. We would end up being ruled by condescending moral busybodies who govern us for our own good. Imagine Buckley’s nightmare scenario in which all of our political leaders are chosen only from the Ivy Leagues.
Lastly … this notion also dovetails into another famous quote by C.S. Lewis, and his view about tyranny:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”
― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology
Reference:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/526469-of-all-tyrannies-a-tyranny-sincerely-exercised-for-the-good
G’day to all!
I was about to post a comment, but after reading yours, there is little left for me to say. A bravura performance. Plus, any comment that references C.S.Lewis is automatically a keeper in my estimation.
Kind words Steve … many thanks for your praise.
Truth is I find lots of inspiration from Glenn’s musings and columns as he and nearly everyone else who participates in Glenn’s blogs all come across as serious and deep thinkers. I don’t know what my I.Q. is, but I like to think that if I surround myself with highly functioning and high I.Q. fellow Americans, that at least some of your intelligence will rub off on me.
This also probably explains why I like to reference and cite quotations, like Plato and his cave allegory from The Republic, or William F. Buckley, Jr., and even C.S. Lewis too. These great minds, and others like them, have said things so much better than I could ever do.
As a Navy veteran and retired federal LEO pushing 60 years, I still feel like I (and all of the rest of us) stand on the shoulders of giants … our Founding Fathers and other great Americans and historical world figures who have significantly contributed to the betterment of humanity, and the advancement of our western civilization. My life and experiences seem quite insignificant and lacking compared to these giants.
As Glenn has written in his most recent column, I too fear that our current politicians, two of whom have a combined age of 158, are dragging us all back into an abyss.
Regardless … I only wish hope for the future and Godspeed to you all here. G’day.
At 74, I sometimes have to think for a couple of minutes to come up with an old actor or singer's name. I can usually do it within a matter of a minute or two. I always know where my keys and phone are. At 80, I have no idea how I will function. I do know 80 year old men who are still sharp as a tack. I know others who are tarp as a shack. One who is 86 now has lost some ground since he had a stroke. Prior to that, he was fine. I'm sure most of us have our own stories about older folks who are still doing real well but it takes a certain ego to want to be the leader of a country. Few have that.
I like the country our founding fathers created. Some of the amendments helped perfect it.
As far as I can tell, we have a hard choice to make. Republicans only have one candidate who has that snow balls chance to beat Biden, IMO. He's far from ideal. I hope he picks a great running mate, just in case we need the VP to step up. I wish tomorrow was November.
Glenn. Hilarious and agreed! Neither should be nominated. I have solved my "losing car keys problem", by wearing them as a necklace (it's a bob, not actually keys) throughout the day when I'm driving. One day a store clerk sincerely commented about the beautiful necklace I was wearing. And as to forgetting names, I have a rule with my fellow seniors. When the name does come to mind, you are allowed to blurt it out, no matter when or where in the conversation.
Biden shows his age, and more. Trump seems to be all there, and if he taps Vivek to be VP then I will be happy and not just voting for the least worst candidate.
Apple Watch can find iPhone. iPhone can find AirTags on your car keys. A smartphone is used as car key by Tesla. Else one uses a smart card the size of a credit card.
I agree with your first sentence. As for the second, I’m too old to understand any of it.
Correction: I didn’t mean “sentences,” but rather “parts” or “topics.”
Agree except I don't think Vivek is as honest as he appears.
Noem would work for me.
Good column worthy of Jon Stewart. We are screwed. American democracy is broken. There are big changes coming soon (maybe even this year), we don't know what they will be, but we can be pretty certain they will be painful. One thing though . . . why did you have to call Joe Biden a pedophile? Zero basis for that comment and it took your political humor over the line to baseless viciousness.
Well, there's the hair-sniffing of little girls who are complete strangers to him. And then there's the report from his daughter that he used to get into the shower with her when she was a child. Maybe it's all harmless, but it's not exactly normal.
I agree that you were inaccurate in your description of Joe Biden as a mere pedophile. He is an incestuous pedophile. Please remember that for future reference. You're welcome.
There are also rumors that come from the Secret Service. I worked for a company with a Washington office. I knew a lot of guys who worked there. Their wives were friends with Secret Service agents wives. Stories were told about old Joe and his propensity to take off his clothes and get frisky with females who were unfortunate enough to find themselves in a confined area with the old pervert.
I can't say that these stories were true or not. They did sound believable.
There are some good ones that were told about Hillary too... but covered different vices.
In my opinion Glenn, this is one of your most objective and balanced articles I have read in the past two years. I take issue with one of your comments in reference to Biden - You state - "clumsily trades access for money for his corrupt family..." By omission, one can assume that Trump & Family are not corrupt. When, in fact, in less than 24 hours if Trump & Family could be fined up to $370 million dollars, as he and Family have already been found guilty of FRAUD! In addition to the monetary fine, Trump and Family could be banned from doing business in New York for life! The losing will continue as long as the Congressional Republicans fall in lock-step with #45. For anyone wondering where I stand politically, I am a moderate Republican.
Age, shmage. Since Biden’s obviously not behind the wheel anyway, it doesn’t matter what puppet the regime replaces him with, since he or she won’t be driving the car either. As for Trump, who or what else is there? None of his better competitors could stay in the ring with him, and as for Haley, the Republicans might as well nominate Mitt Romney again — or John McCain, who’s only slightly more dead than Biden. Who besides Trump is not owned by the Masters of the Universe? It’s Trump or death, my friend.
Respectfully, I disagree with Glenn's thesis. Ok, many in the past did great work in their 20's and 30's, and of that there is no doubt, but they were an exceptional few. However, because the "president" is a mental bag of goo that doesn't describe Trump. There are older people who have the physical and mental vitality of someone much younger and chronological age should not be so determinative. I remember Ben Franklin's "Many men die at 25, but aren't buried until they're 75" on that subject.
The Venetian Republic is a good government model to use for a start. The longest-lasting single system in history. Democracies are inherently unstable. They last until the population figures out it can vote itself more and more money until it goes broke.
Churchill was a lousy strategist. Gallipoli in World War I was a disaster. After Dunkirk, if the Brits had minded their own business, the Germans and Russians would have slugged it out until the last one from each army was hunting down the other in the snow. After they met we would have had only one man to kill. But the Brits "fought on" with bad generals who surrendered to inferior forces (Singapore, Crete, et al)) and lost their empire.
Interesting take on it. I mean that in a good way, Charles.
As for the Venetians, I liken them to the philosopher kings/politburo system. Except their power was kept in check by the Vatican and the law of God. Hmm, there might be a useful model here....
Glenn
The Vatican had little authority in Venice, Glenn. The Pope could not stop the Venetians sacking Constantinople, another Christian city, on their Crusade as much as he protested. And remember, Galileo thrived there and got rich (until he blew out his own market) and did not get into trouble for thinking the earth went around the sun until he moved to Florence to get in on the real estate boom.
You're of course correct that the Vatican had more more influence on Florence.
How do these comments get put in such disorder?
Name someone who is younger running for president that will hold China accountable, unleash American hydrocarbon energy which neutered our enemies and gave us the highest purchasing power of our lives, de-regulated us by the tens of thousands, cut our corporate tax rate from the highest in the world(39%) to 21%, and controlled immigration holding corrupt Mexico accountable?
It isn't Ron DeSantis. It isn't the younger Nimrata Haley. They belong to globalists Ken Griffin of Citadel and Paul Singer who funds the transtesticles. Oh, wait... It was Donald Trump who works 18 hours per day.
This is what I always refer to: https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/08/19/the-day-i-went-head-to-head-with-donald-trump/?sh=61a9f96358be
J.D. Vance maybe?