Scarcity

As we, of an age, have seen through the years, there are scoundrels in the Republican party (like Denny Hastert) and there are honorable Democrats (like Barbara Jordan). However, it recently struck me that the proportion of bad-apple GOPers seems to closely approximate those Dems who are statesmen ... scarce in both instances.

South Africa

Mark Steyn must have a large and/or competent research staff … because most of his opinion pieces are full of salient and often startling facts.  (As opposed to most New York Times news articles that are chock-a-block full of opinions.)  

Steyn has just written a piece on South Africa and Nelson Mandela that recalls much of the seedier side of this country after the demise of apartheid … see: Steyn Online.  In it, Steyn treads lightly on Mandela’s legacy … but spares not the country from a barrage of unfortunate revelations (e.g., South Africa is the murder capital of the world) … many of which I once knew but have forgotten.  Please read it if you have any designs on going there.

This is really a shame for, from what I hear, South Africa is a country full of incredible scenic beauty and bountiful natural resources.  But, as a result of its current condition, it is not on my bucket list.  I just wish I could have seen and relished it (ditto Kashmir) before it went the way of most former colonial nations. 

From a selfish point of view, one wonders if this country will ever regain its previous stature and benign presence.  I certainly hope so.  But I think it will take a passel more of statesmen the likes of Mandela for this to occur.

Banana Republic

Charles Krauthammer has a sobering column in a recent Washington Post about how the standing rules are being ignored or brazenly broken in both the Executive and Legislative branches of our government.  It is a compelling read ... see: Washington Post Opinion Piece.  If you skip this hyperlink, one of its many important quotes is:

We’ve now reached a point where a flailing president, desperate to deflect the opprobrium heaped upon him for the false promise that you could keep your health plan if you wanted to, calls a hasty news conference urging both insurers and the states to reinstate millions of such plans.

Except that he is asking them to break the law. His own law. Under Obamacare, no insurer may issue a policy after 2013 that does not meet the law’s minimum coverage requirements. These plans were canceled because they do not.

The law remains unchanged. The regulations governing that law remain unchanged. Nothing is changed except for a president proposing to unilaterally change his own law from the White House press room.  

That’s banana republic stuff, except that there the dictator proclaims from the presidential balcony.

It saddens me that so few people of real influence see our government's unraveling and take to the barricades to denounce it. We used to have such people of stature ... they were called statesmen. Instead we are today served by Woody-Allen-style puppets who prance and pose trying to capture American's attention one step ahead of Mylie Cyrus's twerking.

We are in a sorry state of disrepair ... and as Charles Krauthammer closes his column with:

A Senate with no rules. A president without boundaries. One day, when a few bottled-up judicial nominees and a malfunctioning health-care Web site are barely a memory, we will still be dealing with the toxic residue of this outbreak of authoritative lawlessness.