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skyzyks's avatar

To Paul and Bill: You have lived in the DC area for some time. As lawyers in big law you both have had contact with people that probably qualify as elite in law and government. Are these people as helpless, and in some cases apparently insane, as they appear to be from a distance? I don’t think it coincidental that Macron has commented negatively on the US cultural trends and then within the last day advocated for the use of the Chinese yuan as a hedge against an imperial dollar. What the hell is wrong with the people you’ve worked with, lived with, over all this time? Do they at all realize what a pitiful sight they’ve become. No need to concern yourself with China or Russia, but who among your friends and neighbors thinks that European countries find current American culture at all attractive? Those who do really are in a bubble.

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Paul Mirengoff's avatar

Sorry for the late response.

You ask a good question. I don't have a good answer.

I will say that it puzzled me that hard-nosed lawyers who never gave an inch in litigation or when it came to divvying up law firm spoils were so soft-headed in their view of the wider world -- for example how to treat terrorists.

I never figured out what was behind the disconnect, as I saw it. Maybe it was about status. The lawyers were aping D.C.'s thought leaders. But why were the thought-leaders so clueless?

Maybe it had to do with unease about, or even guilt over, the way they behaved professionally -- some odd sort of ying and yang.

Or maybe it's just easier to come off as magnanimous when the subject is America's survival, as opposed to matters that affect one's day-to-day interests.

That's about the best I can do on the subject.

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skyzyks's avatar

Thank you for the response. The question asked might as well be rhetorical since, like you, I can not think of any single explanation beyond the effects of general affluence and exhaustion both spiritual and intellectual. Every generation is called upon to assume the responsibility and burdens left by the generations that preceeded them and are called upon to do things that are unpleasant. Each is called upon to tie themselves to the mast and suffer the song of the Sirens. Every so often a generation comes along that produces an elite that shirks that responsibility and duty. I think that such a generation has come of age and its representatives merely occupy their positions of responsibility. Nothing more.

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George Chimes's avatar

The Left is only opposed to disrupting legislative proceedings on January 6th. It's perfectly fine on the other 364 days.

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Rascal Nick Of's avatar

Comfort Lady Kamala rides to the rescue!

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