Forget Reactionary Nostalgia

I saw the Drudge Report’s synopsis of the contents of Pat Buchanan’s book about the end of civilization or whatever he’s on about. What a turd. He seems to want to fill the slot that Robert Bork had for a while, writing books chock-a-block full of “widening gyre” and the “lamb slouching towards gomorrah” or whatever the hell the reference is.

Apocalyptic visions can be a sort of dumb fun, I guess. Between him and Al Gore I’m surprised you can hear yourself think at the intellectual bus stop with them both shouting at the passing traffic with visions of DOOM, DOOM, I SAY!

You know, all in all, The Road Warrior was a lot more fun.

The world changes all the time and people don’t like it. They certainly don’t understand it. Neither side. As I get older, I realize that if I’m going to talk about Old Bastid stuff, I have to be careful not to drift into just being cranky. If I was under the age of thirty, and I saw Pat Buchanan and his Legion of Doom Factoid Brigade approaching, I’d cross the street to avoid him. Even if he was right, he’s a jerk. If your doctor ever tells you that you have cancer, and while you’re trying to wrap your mind around that fact he adds: “And you’re ugly and your wife is fat,” you should get another doctor. Even if he knows less about cancer.

If you have experience about a period of time, and it was bad (hello, Jimmy Carter!) you should point out that things were lousy to anyone that might be tempted to try it again in their ignorance. (Hello, current crop of presidential candidates!) But it would be so much more useful to employ your first hand knowledge of time gone by to point out whatever things are glittering in the big pile of woe and sorrow and detritus we call life. They’re always there. Help people to see them for the first time, or remember them kindly.

As I was saying; the seventies sucked. Do not reproduce them. But stuff like this used to come out of the jukebox in the highschool cafeteria thirty-five years back. Pat Buchanon was listening to Four Freshmen albums and freshening Richard Nixon’s drinks back then. Why pay attention to him? Pay attention to this: