Archive: Opinions

My father had a friend who was a braggart, and a bit of a loud mouth, who bought a Rolls Royce.  He proudly drove it to another friend, who happened to be from Great Britain.  He offered his friend a ride, and they tooled off around the city.  When they got home the proud owner declared, "I'll bet you never rode in a Rolls Royce before!"  His friend dryly observed, "Not in the front seat."

That's what's missing in American politics.  Subtle wit.  Aside from the fact that it is a lot more amusing that endless rants on social media, it also keeps the tone civilized, allowing an atmosphere in which things can actually get done. 

But that is not what we have.  Instead we have hateful insults that are answered with more hateful insults and crass references.

But wouldn't it be great if policy makers had a special machine, like those coin sorters at the bank?  You could throw your issues into the machine, and it would sort them for you.  Any issues that fell into the middle could be passed into law.

Meanwhile they'd be free to engage in witty repartee.  Like when Lord Byron observed, "Society is now one polish’d horde, Form’d of two mighty tribes, the Bores and Bored."

Or Winston Churchill when he said, "Americans always try to do the right thing, after they've tried everything else first."

Oscar Wilde insulted himself, exclaiming,"I'm so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word I'm saying."

George Bernard Shaw wrote to Winston Churchill, "I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.  If you have one."

Elizabeth Taylor observed, "Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses."

Subtle wit makes you stop and think before reacting.  Stopping to think would be a welcome change in the current political climate.  Never mind the climate change crisis, we have a serious political climate change crisis.

With our country virtually divided down the middle, the only way to accomplish anything is to discover what we do agree on, and act on that.  And despite some politicians claim that they do that (except when you look at their voting record it turns out that they don't) it ain't gonna happen until the tone of rhetoric calms down.

One way to do that is to stop and think before tweeting.  And then saying something clever.

And then doing something clever.

v15i17