I figured that as long as I'm on the subject, I might as well pause to explain why I devote so much energy to attacking politics and the people who dabble in them. It's not just the obvious menace that politics represent when detached from the rule of law. It goes deeper than that. Politics are the realm of the lowest common denominator, where the popular/vulgar rather than the righteous carries the day. By the very nature of this business a politician is not a man of quality or character, but rather a second-hander who lacks and/or doubts his ability to achieve excellence on his own steam. As such, he parades himself in front of the public and bosses around the truly excellent people so he can be thought of as excellent. It's a parasitic and pathetic existence, lived through the refracted gaze of others.
The life story of Teddy Roosevelt is an object lesson. Sickly and weak as a boy, Teddy never outgrew his inferiority complex and spent his entire adulthood making a spectacle of himself. His family was aristocratic and admonished him not to enter politics
because, as they correctly understood, it was the realm of knaves and
fools. He couldn't abide such counsel because he had to prove himself
and boss people around; in his own words, he wanted to be "in the
governing class." He thoroughly enjoyed his chance as president to wield his "big stick" (a Freudian slip if ever there was one) as well as to attack industry, the courts, and even the concept of spelling (all signifiers of hierarchy and distinction).
Such people do not make America great. They merely perch themselves atop the greatness built by others and claim credit for it.
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