Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Aristocracy
I was watching the Republican convention last week and was struck by the horrible performance of the Bush daughters, Barbara and Jenna. The pair came across as incredibly childish, shallow and apathetic. They confessed to being "not political" which to me is an almost unforgiveable thing for a college educated person to say at a time like this. They giggled and spoke of clothes and TV and generally came across as immature 13 year olds as the voting public looked on in shock. They even bragged about their intention to remain young and irresponsible, like daddy.
Then it occurred to me. Barbara, like her father, grandfather and great-grandfather, graduated from Yale. "This idiot got into Yale?!" I thundered at the dog.
My next thought was that my 18 year old daughter had to be ten times as smart as both of these girls put together. My daughter, who at the age of 4 demanded that I explain slavery to her and not leave anything out. At the age of 8 she announced that the smartest people go to Ivy League colleges and so that's where she wanted to go ( I have no idea where she got this from). She devoured every book she could get her hands on, reading the most challenging books she could find. At 15 she asked me to list works of literature and film that a person should read and watch if she wanted to think of herself as educated. She was not an introverted "book worm", although that is a great thing to be in my opinion. She started and presided over The Activism Awareness and Free Speech Club at her high school and volunteered as a student representative on the local school board. She got high scores on her SAT's, traveled to Costa Rica on an exchange program for 8 weeks becoming semi-fluent in Spanish, and earned an IB diploma. Her grades her last two years averaged a low B since she preferred reading Sartre, Dostoevsky, Orwell and Vonnegut and seeing as much live music as she could to making the extra effort to get A's in class. She applied to an Ivy League school (not Yale) and was rejected. I knew her grades would be an issue and so did she, but she learned a lot more than most outside of school and that was more important to her.
She'll be fine, her heart isn't at all broken and I am sure she will go far. Her idiot father attended a state university and received a good education there. (Referencing yourself in the third person is the first sign of madness, right Bob Dole?) She will be mad at me for making her an example here but too bad. Fathers have a right, nay duty, to sing the praises of their children. When I pointed out the irony of the Bush brood's unequal treatment to her the other day she said, "Hey, you're right that sucks!"
The point is that W and his girl did get into Yale and certainly did not earn it. W has always been a C student and doesn't like to read anything, especially not PDB's. What irks me is, as former Texas Governor Ann Richards so eloquently said of W's father, "George Bush was born on 3rd base and thinks he got a triple!" The same is even more true of W.
Taken along with revelations aired tonight on 60 Minutes II of strings pulled to get little George W in the Texas Air National Guard so he wouldn't have to go to Vietnam an ugly picture of American aristocracy starts emerging. The former Texas Speaker of the House, Ben Barnes, reported that it was common practice for powerful people to have strings pulled for their kids and he was happy to do it. When someone with a little power pulls strings for someone with more power he gets more power in return, Barnes said.
Gee why do you think African Americans may need a helping hand in a society that functions this way? No wait a minute, we can't have unequal treatment based on color can we? No, only wealth should grant privilege because wealth is a sign of god's favor. Yale can swing its doors open wide for the drooling idiots of its alumni but the University of Michigan better not take into account the slavery dwelling past of its applicants' forebears. That would be unfair.
As if these great advantages weren't enough, George W's number one priority upon taking office was to cement he and his friends' 3 base lead on the rest of us by ending the Estate tax. Then he pushed for and won the elimination of taxes on dividends, so people fortunate enough to have stock portfolios so big they never need to work for a paycheck, or stop drinking heavily until they are 40, can enjoy tax free incomes in perpetuity. Don't you love that word, perpetuity?
Hi Ho. (little Vonnegut tribute)
We are told that higher taxes on the rich unfairly punish success.
Poppycock. (Jimmy Stewart tribute)
Allowing hard working successful people such as Paris Hilton to retain fortunes guaranteed to insure that generations of her disgusting spawn can retain their millions is not rewarding success, it is rewarding birth. It is bestowing aristocratic privilege on irresponsible dimwitted white trash. (Yea, I said it, white trash)
Accumulation of this kind of wealth is bad for society. It allows the beneficiaries to be above the laws. These folks will eventually own everything and we will be their serfs, yearning for the day when they graciously trickle down on us.
There's some lovely filth over here! (Python, of course!)
Didn't we flee old Europe and fight a revolution to get away from this sort of thing or have I just gone stark raving mad? (Please don't answer that)
Read former Republican Strategist Kevin Phillips' excellent book "American Dynasty - Aristocracy, Fortune, And the Politics Of Deceit In The House of Bush" for a much more eloquent and level headed discussion of this topic. (Although it will probably make you go frothing mad if you do)
Fight the Power. (Public Enemy)
I was watching the Republican convention last week and was struck by the horrible performance of the Bush daughters, Barbara and Jenna. The pair came across as incredibly childish, shallow and apathetic. They confessed to being "not political" which to me is an almost unforgiveable thing for a college educated person to say at a time like this. They giggled and spoke of clothes and TV and generally came across as immature 13 year olds as the voting public looked on in shock. They even bragged about their intention to remain young and irresponsible, like daddy.
Then it occurred to me. Barbara, like her father, grandfather and great-grandfather, graduated from Yale. "This idiot got into Yale?!" I thundered at the dog.
My next thought was that my 18 year old daughter had to be ten times as smart as both of these girls put together. My daughter, who at the age of 4 demanded that I explain slavery to her and not leave anything out. At the age of 8 she announced that the smartest people go to Ivy League colleges and so that's where she wanted to go ( I have no idea where she got this from). She devoured every book she could get her hands on, reading the most challenging books she could find. At 15 she asked me to list works of literature and film that a person should read and watch if she wanted to think of herself as educated. She was not an introverted "book worm", although that is a great thing to be in my opinion. She started and presided over The Activism Awareness and Free Speech Club at her high school and volunteered as a student representative on the local school board. She got high scores on her SAT's, traveled to Costa Rica on an exchange program for 8 weeks becoming semi-fluent in Spanish, and earned an IB diploma. Her grades her last two years averaged a low B since she preferred reading Sartre, Dostoevsky, Orwell and Vonnegut and seeing as much live music as she could to making the extra effort to get A's in class. She applied to an Ivy League school (not Yale) and was rejected. I knew her grades would be an issue and so did she, but she learned a lot more than most outside of school and that was more important to her.
She'll be fine, her heart isn't at all broken and I am sure she will go far. Her idiot father attended a state university and received a good education there. (Referencing yourself in the third person is the first sign of madness, right Bob Dole?) She will be mad at me for making her an example here but too bad. Fathers have a right, nay duty, to sing the praises of their children. When I pointed out the irony of the Bush brood's unequal treatment to her the other day she said, "Hey, you're right that sucks!"
The point is that W and his girl did get into Yale and certainly did not earn it. W has always been a C student and doesn't like to read anything, especially not PDB's. What irks me is, as former Texas Governor Ann Richards so eloquently said of W's father, "George Bush was born on 3rd base and thinks he got a triple!" The same is even more true of W.
Taken along with revelations aired tonight on 60 Minutes II of strings pulled to get little George W in the Texas Air National Guard so he wouldn't have to go to Vietnam an ugly picture of American aristocracy starts emerging. The former Texas Speaker of the House, Ben Barnes, reported that it was common practice for powerful people to have strings pulled for their kids and he was happy to do it. When someone with a little power pulls strings for someone with more power he gets more power in return, Barnes said.
Gee why do you think African Americans may need a helping hand in a society that functions this way? No wait a minute, we can't have unequal treatment based on color can we? No, only wealth should grant privilege because wealth is a sign of god's favor. Yale can swing its doors open wide for the drooling idiots of its alumni but the University of Michigan better not take into account the slavery dwelling past of its applicants' forebears. That would be unfair.
As if these great advantages weren't enough, George W's number one priority upon taking office was to cement he and his friends' 3 base lead on the rest of us by ending the Estate tax. Then he pushed for and won the elimination of taxes on dividends, so people fortunate enough to have stock portfolios so big they never need to work for a paycheck, or stop drinking heavily until they are 40, can enjoy tax free incomes in perpetuity. Don't you love that word, perpetuity?
Hi Ho. (little Vonnegut tribute)
We are told that higher taxes on the rich unfairly punish success.
Poppycock. (Jimmy Stewart tribute)
Allowing hard working successful people such as Paris Hilton to retain fortunes guaranteed to insure that generations of her disgusting spawn can retain their millions is not rewarding success, it is rewarding birth. It is bestowing aristocratic privilege on irresponsible dimwitted white trash. (Yea, I said it, white trash)
Accumulation of this kind of wealth is bad for society. It allows the beneficiaries to be above the laws. These folks will eventually own everything and we will be their serfs, yearning for the day when they graciously trickle down on us.
There's some lovely filth over here! (Python, of course!)
Didn't we flee old Europe and fight a revolution to get away from this sort of thing or have I just gone stark raving mad? (Please don't answer that)
Read former Republican Strategist Kevin Phillips' excellent book "American Dynasty - Aristocracy, Fortune, And the Politics Of Deceit In The House of Bush" for a much more eloquent and level headed discussion of this topic. (Although it will probably make you go frothing mad if you do)
Fight the Power. (Public Enemy)
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