|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sunday, June 13, 2004 :::
Weekend commentary roundup:
George Will comments on the economics of the energy market. He notes, inter alia, that gasoline today is (inflation-adjusted) half the price it was in 1920 and three-fifths the price it was in 1981. Will also demonstrates (more importantly) that we need not artificially increase the price of oil through taxation in order to stimulate the growth of alternative energy supplies because oil prices will rise automatically as it becomes more difficult to find.
Charles Krauthammer (column from Friday) notes that as people are praising Ronald Reagan for his optimism, they are missing the point of what he did.
Optimism? Every other person on the No. 6 bus is an optimist. What distinguished Reagan was what he did and said.
Mark Steyn compares the funeral of Ronald Reagan to that of the Queen Mother two years ago. I noticed that Lady Thatcher's curtsy in the Capitol Rotunda, but the meaning was lost on me. Steyn explains:
When Thatcher stood before President Reagan's coffin, by the way, she curtsied -- which you're supposed to do only for kings and queens.
He also comments on the perception, contrary to the facts and prevalent in the popular press that Reagan was not intelligent:
If anything is laid to rest with him at the end of this remarkable week, it ought to be the lazy condescension of the elites. That's all but indestructible, alas. Last Monday, the Washington Post and many other papers carried an Associated Press story by Adam Geller on Reagan's economic legacy which began, ''He had almost no schooling in economics...'' Actually, that's one of the few things he did have schooling in: In 1932, he earned a bachelor's degree in social science and economics from Eureka College. I guess a certificate from Eureka just doesn't impress these reporters the way Bush's Yale Business School diploma [sic] impresses them.
He also observes:
On CNN the other night, there was a featurette on all the changes in Ronald Reagan's long life: He was born in 1911, when Buffalo Bill was still alive, etc., etc.. Big deal. If you were born in 1980, that world has vanished, too. The arrogance of every age is the assumption of permanence. It's unusual to find a leader who thinks beyond that: ''smart'' in media politics means someone who can recite by heart every sub-clause of his plan on prescription-drug re-importation from Canada, not someone who looks a decade or two down the road and figures out the lie of the land.
Indeed, when Speaker Hastert eulogized President Reagan in the Rotunda, he said "Ronald Reagan helped make our country and this world a better place to live. But he always believed that our best days were ahead of us, not behind us." The preposition "But" is wrong. Surely, it is at least partially due to Reagan's efforts that better days followed his efforts and that better days yet lie ahead.
Robert Cringely (column from Thursday) comments on the future of blogging. Lest this become a meta-blog-entry, I will merely comment that I hope my blog entries never function the way he talks about.
And, in case you missed it, Robert Novak had a nice column on Monday in which he described Reagan as perhaps the nation's most ideological president and also one of the most intellectual. It's worth reading because it also notes Reagan's support for the restoration of the gold standard.
::: posted by Eric at 10:22 AM
|
|
|
|
