And folks the Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan (subscription required) could have been just as easily talking about <insert state capital> as Washington when she described the politicians as “the locus of selfishness in the modern world.” As a long time subscriber you’d think Slabbed wouldn’t be so hard on the WSJ Editorial Board, who I have personally skewered more times that I can remember but a couple of the columnists like Noonan often do a great job lending context to issues and explaining things. These snippets nail it IMHO:
There isn’t a staffer on the Hill who won’t tell you 90% of members are driven by their own needs, wants and interests, not America’s.
And the greed doesn’t end:
The single most memorable thing I ever heard from a Wall Streeter was from one of its great men, who blandly explained to me one day why certain wealthy individuals were taking an action that was both greedy and personally inconvenient to them. “Everyone wants more,” he said, not in a castigating way but as one explains certain essentials to a child.
People in public life have become more grasping, and less embarrassed by it. But the odd thing, the destabilizing thing as you think about it, is that we’re in a crisis. We’ve been in it since at least 2008 and the crash, and the wars. We are in unprecedented trouble. Citizens know this. It’s why they buy guns…..
Indeed. The whole piece is well worth the read for those with a subscription.