Sometimes American politics feel hopelessly deadlocked. It can be tempting to look backwards wistfully at how the nation's founders seemed, by contrast, to understand the necessity of political compromise. Yet, as Nathaniel C. Green writes in Made by History, the past is also full of examples of the limitations of compromise, especially when it comes to the core principles of democracy. In the lead-up to what's known as the Missouri Crisis, political leaders in favor and against slavery's expansion held the nation together through compromise. But over time, such deals only deepened slavery's hold on the country, emboldening the South to threaten secession. Political compromise can be laudable if it brings real peace and stability, Green argues—but ceding ground to those who reject democracy for all only invites future capitulation.
"But there is a problem: the key principle of the Pokéocracy is acquisitiveness. The more Pokémon you have, the greater power you possess (the slogan is GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL). And never underestimate a child's ability to master the Pokéarcana required to accumulate such power: the ease with which they slip into cunning and thuggery can stun a mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer. Grownups aren't ready for their little innocents to be so precociously cutthroat. Is Pokémon payback for our get-rich-quick era–with our offspring led away like lemmings by Pied Poke-Pipers of greed? Or is there something inherent in childhood that Pokémania simply reflects?"
"We've known for weeks that this Thanksgiving would be like no other. It's not just that more of us will drive instead of fly, or take in strays who can't make it home, or carve out a few hours to help in a soup kitchen, or stop in for an extra church service, though all these are likely. We are aware, as if we were truly all one household, of the families who will face an empty chair at the table, the little boys sitting up straighter than last year, their father now gone, the touch football in the afternoon played with uncles who know they are no substitute. We feel for the families of soldiers and police and fire fighters who can't go off duty, off alert. But since most families were not touched so directly by the attacks of Sept. 11, the impact has been absorbed day by day, one fretful adjustment at a time."
This week in 2014: U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
The Nov. 17, 2014, cover of TIME
TIME illustration. Photo reference: Drew Angerer—Getty Images
"In an interview with TIME on a sunny November Monday in Hazard, Ky., while cruising to his own sixth term, the soon-to-be Senate leader sketched rather circumspect ambitions. 'Exactly which bill comes up first will be determined after discussing that with my colleagues and with the Speaker,' he told TIME. 'Some examples of things that we're very likely to be voting on–approving the Keystone XL pipeline, repealing the medical-device tax, trying to restore the 40-hour workweek, trying to get rid of the individual mandate. These are the kinds of things that I believe there is a bipartisan majority in the Senate to approve.' He said he hopes to find common ground with Obama on tax reform and trade agreements–issues that, not coincidentally, deeply divide the Democrats."
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario