I just read a joke in an alumni magazine Miami sent to my house, presumably in hopes that I would supplement my tuition with additional contributions to that institution.
“Politics. Remember the word. It came to us from the Greeks. Poli, meaning many, and tics, meaning blood sucking insects.”
It’s a hackey joke, but more than that, it speaks of an alienation from the political process. Government isn’t “them.” Or at least it shouldn’t be. Government is “us” — it’s a tool we use to accomplish our goals. Allowing government to be “them” seems like an abdication of civic responsibility.
I get the temptation. It’s emotionally satisfying to be a victim of “them,” to only include in “us” people who are alike. If you are separate, then you can remain pure without working very hard at it.
This is as much a reminder to myself as to anyone else who happens to read this.
Good thoughts, Doug. The anti-incumbency feeling in both parties over the last several cycles is an effort to get “them” back to “us.” I find it encouraging.
I don’t mind anti-incumbency if it’s informed. “Government sucks, throw the bums out,” on the other hand isn’t much better than blind trust in the government and its incumbents.
The beliefs that motivate that sort of speech don’t serve the common good, and tend to reinforce the politically ignorant and people susceptible to demagoguery. Not exactly the sort of thing one should find in an alumni magazine,where the hope is that graduates are contributing to the society.. Methinks someone who heard that bit of silliness for the first time thought it would go well with former graduates. Someone over there needs to be educated about the meaning of language, and it’s a whole lot more than a nonsensical bit of etymology.
I did go to school there at the same time as Paul Ryan, so it could well be that the alumni magazine authors know their audience.
Did you know him know him? Were you in the mountain climbing club together or take Econ for Gym Rats together? Inquiring minds need to know!
I didn’t know him. It seems very likely I would have shared a political science class with him. He was a year ahead of me, but we were both poli sci majors. But, that’s just speculation. Also, he was a member of Delta Tau Delta which was about 2 blocks down the street from my own Zeta Beta Tau at the time. We hated the Delts “Dicks ‘Til Death”. That’s about all I have.
He may have been a year ahead of you, but he will still behind the door.
Oops. Let me restate that so it’s not illiterate: He may have been a year ahead of you, but he was still behind the door.