Annie
Diamond Member
- Nov 22, 2003
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Shudder:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDNiN2VlNzIxNTg5ZDQyMjgzMDRjYzFiMzUwOGJlOGI=
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDNiN2VlNzIxNTg5ZDQyMjgzMDRjYzFiMzUwOGJlOGI=
Pick Up Your Own Crap
The crazy denunciations and demands of populist forces must be put down by conservatives.
By Jonah Goldberg
Politics has a math of its own. Whereas a scientifically minded person might see things this way: One person who says 2+2=5 is an idiot; two people who think 2+2=5 are two idiots; and a million people who think 2+2=5 are a whole lot of idiotspolitical math works differently. Lets work backwards: if a million people think 2+2=5, then they are not a million idiots, but a constituency. If they are growing in number, they are also a movement. And, if you were not only the first person to proclaim 2+2=5, but you were the first to persuade others, then you, my friend, are not an idiot, but a visionary.
Of course, idiocy and its distribution in the population isnt the point. You can build a movement out of true observationsi.e. 2+2=4as well. The point is that political power flows from numbers and, more importantly, that such power becomes self-justifying for those who enjoy its effects. Passion becomes more legitimate as more people share it, no matter what the content or object of that passion is. Any unified field theory of politics would have to include this basic law of the political universe. It is true in democracies and dictatorships alike. Like the laws of gravity or thermodynamics, it can be exploited or minimized. But it cannot be repealed. It is a constant of the human condition.