re: "It is NOT Always About Politics"
John at World-Wide Matel ("This blog is the successor to Matel-in-Iraq, where I described my year of service as ePRT leader deployed with the U.S. Marines in Western Iraq. I invite your comments, but will not be put-off if you don’t make any. Welcome. ") made some observations about Washington, D.C.
Money quote(s):
"I understand that Washington is a political town and politics pervades everything, however I don’t think everything is reducible to politics alone, at least politics in the sense of the competitive game."
"Not everybody is motivated by politics – not even politicians – and especially not ordinary people. I have particular and strongly held political views, but between elections I want my President to succeed no matter what party and I want our Congress to work under the best possible conditions. In between elections, I don’t want to think about politics very much. Most people are like that except during tough political campaigns or when making a calls to talk radio or C-Span. Being politically aware all the time is just too exhausting.
Our system makes good or at least okay decisions most of the time. More important is our capacity to experiment and reinvent while maintaining the fundamental integrity of our structure. The fact that we enjoy the oldest living Constitution in the world and are second oldest continuous government in the world (after the Brits) is ample evidence of our stability."
&
"In America, it is possible to be prosperous, secure and successful w/o strong political connections. If you think about that for more than a minute and put it into historical context, that is truly amazing. Freedom FROM arbitrary government action and the capriciousness of petty officials is rare in history. We complain about our lack of freedom and opportunity, but we have (to paraphrase) the worst possible system … except for everything else."
Money quote(s):
"I understand that Washington is a political town and politics pervades everything, however I don’t think everything is reducible to politics alone, at least politics in the sense of the competitive game."
"Not everybody is motivated by politics – not even politicians – and especially not ordinary people. I have particular and strongly held political views, but between elections I want my President to succeed no matter what party and I want our Congress to work under the best possible conditions. In between elections, I don’t want to think about politics very much. Most people are like that except during tough political campaigns or when making a calls to talk radio or C-Span. Being politically aware all the time is just too exhausting.
Our system makes good or at least okay decisions most of the time. More important is our capacity to experiment and reinvent while maintaining the fundamental integrity of our structure. The fact that we enjoy the oldest living Constitution in the world and are second oldest continuous government in the world (after the Brits) is ample evidence of our stability."
&
"In America, it is possible to be prosperous, secure and successful w/o strong political connections. If you think about that for more than a minute and put it into historical context, that is truly amazing. Freedom FROM arbitrary government action and the capriciousness of petty officials is rare in history. We complain about our lack of freedom and opportunity, but we have (to paraphrase) the worst possible system … except for everything else."
posted by Consul-At-Arms at 8:56 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home