Always Go To the Funeral

I wrote this note in August 2017, soon after Charlottesville and Trump’s “very fine people” comment. It’s time to dust it off in the wake of the caucus debacle in Iowa and the kabuki theater of impeachment.

There’s a pose that very sick farm animals sometimes take when they’re near death, where they lie down and twist their head way back into their shoulder in a very unnatural way. It’s an odd sight if you don’t know what it signifies, a horrible sight if you do.

Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are starting to twist their heads back into their shoulders. I don’t know if it’s too late to save them or not, but I’m increasingly thinking that it is. We need to start thinking about the funeral, who’s going to speak, and what they’re going to say.


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Comments

  1. Ben, I was thinking about this note today as I listened to the funeral services for President Bush. Later I opened Zero Hedge (don’t judge me) and noted no single mention of the funeral or his death, which I find exceptionally surprising. I’m a Houstonian, so maybe I’m giving his funeral too much importance. I don’t think so, though.
    The common refrain around 41 is that he was a good man. An honest man. Humble and selfless, funny and nice. He became great friends with Bill Clinton of all people. Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps he’s part of the oligarchy and his sins have been whitewashed with the passage of time.
    I think Zero Hedge just doesn’t have anything to say about him. He doesn’t fit the political narrative that drives add revenues today. You ask, “why am I reading this NOW?” We aren’t reading about 41 NOW because the story doesn’t fit with the today’s narrative: socialists, fascists, Trump’s tweets or Putin’s secrets. 41 is the antithesis of your widening gyre. I suppose I’m just a bit melancholy, but I sure wish everyone could have attended that funeral today.

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