1787 Federalists vs. Anti-federalists

People were seeing the Constitution for the first time and were wary of what it would mean in practice.

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Given the well-organized opposition in large states such as Virginia and New York, it seemed likely that it would be an uphill battle to get the Constitution ratified. As often incredulous citizens studied the document in taverns and coffeehouses, many rejected it at first blush. The convention’s secrecy encouraged suspicions of a wicked cabal at work. Patrick Henry, for one, railed against the tyranny of Philadelphia” and compared the new charter to “the tyranny of George III.” [...]

The rancor ushered in a golden age of literary assassination in American politics. No etiquette had yet evolved to define the legitimate boundaries of dissent. Poison-pen artists on both sides wrote vitriolic essays that were overtly partisan, often paid scant heed to accuracy, and sought a visceral impact. The inflamed rhetoric once directed against Britain was now turned inward against domestic adversaries.

-- Ron Chernow, “Alexander Hamilton”

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Government and Capitalism

"There is a statue outside the Department of Labor of a powerful, rambunctious horse being reined in by an extremely muscular man. This used to be a metaphor for liberalism. The horse was capitalism. The man was government, which was needed sometimes to restrain capitalism’s excesses."

-- David Brooks at The New York Times

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

It is a few minutes after midnight. I just finished a hell of a story, “Living Dead Girl”, and I am lying in bed. I end up thinking, “I know I’m not going to fall asleep. Why bother trying?” I don’t think the stimulation from the book should get all the blame. The warmer weather is probably no less a factor. Mostly, it is just a personal problem. I am not getting a good night’s sleep, nor am I able to enjoy a decent afternoon nap these days. It just isn’t happening. I am tempted to get up and walk around in the back yard, enjoy the cooler air, the early-spring breeze, maybe clear my head. Instead, I pick up Alvarez’s “Savage God” to cull some more quotes for my blog.

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An article confirms that Amazon really has made it simple for a person to publish, say, a short story and make it accessible to the world of readers and to make money from sales. Even at this late age, the idea feels a little exciting. On the other hand, it also feels like mockery, like my bluff is being called. The truth: I cannot even put together a short story.

Yet, the idea playfully rolls around in my head. For instance, how about just jazzing up some of my bloggy writing? Cast the journal-writing in a more romantic light: the tale of a dreamer loser. And, sure, one could take a couple of steps toward fictionalizing it, have our narrator step out a bit and meet some characters - talk about world affairs and politics, maybe some celebrity gossip.

Bah, I am dreaming again, in a way that might be cute if I were still in my twenties. Yet, the thought of putting up something in the real world of books still fascinates me. Just how easy is it? Is it as simple as clicking ‘post’ on a blog entry? If so, why write for free on a blog when one can put it in the market with a price tag. One answer, of course, is that, this way, posting on a free blog, some people are more likely to actually read it, perhaps some old blogging friends, which is nice. If I put it up for sale, it would probably be like burying my writing in a crypt, where only the worms may feast on it. Yet, my mind whirls in the idea of it.


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I finally realize there is a cool breeze blowing in and I think to open up the second window in the big room. We’re not in the hopelessness of summer yet.

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I ordered “Elvis: What Happened?” The old 1970s kiss and tell by Elvis’s fired bodyguards. I was going to get Alanna Nash’s “Memphis Mafia”, but I remembered the other one, and one might not be able to find a copy of it on Amazon much longer, and I know it has some good passages. It’s worth giving it a go-over before losing it to history. It is the book that Elvis saw in the last weeks f his life.

Trump

I'm keeping another Krugman column on the Trump phenomenon.

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Daily Fun

(by Wang.Wei)

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