Hi Steele,

Francis Fukuyama ?

http://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/thing-determines-how-well-countries-respond-coronavirus/609025/

I'm ploughing through his two-volumes on Political Evolution. Heavy for me, but wonderfully insightful. I'm only up to the Greeks.

I wonder if he's re-considering his End of History ?

Joe

Dear loudmouth2,

Quite possibly. Like Hitchens he is capable of loudly and proudly owning up when he gets something wrong. He certainly hasn't drunk the Trump coolaid which I think is a prerequisite. He was certainly able to vote for Obama which shows he is not a total ideologue anymore and is a big plus.

SR.

"And no I haven't read any of his books, have you? "

All of them. I also have a saved google search which alerts me to all his essays as they come out. I've also attended most of his online courses and lectures. So yes, I think I have a handle on his thinking.

"I'm not sure how his historical pieces make him a broad intellectual for the right..."

Many historians will argue that past experiences will give an understanding of present circumstances. For example, in his monumental work on the Peloponnesian War, VDH spends a good deal of his time comparing the great power politics of that time to the present. Equally he has given quite a few lectures comparing the Trump phenomena to various players in the late Roman Republic.

You really can't dismiss him as a right of centre thinker when you know so little of his work.

Ditto all the others you, as usual, flippantly dismissed.

Chomsky badly misunderstood the Kampuchean killing fields and dismissed the initial reports as CIA propaganda. He, as well as other communist apologists, delayed the world's response to the deaths for perhaps a year. But I would never think of dismissing the rest of his work based on that one, admittedly monumental, error. That's where we are different.

Dear mhaze,

I don't think I dismissed him like I did most of the others you have put up but certainly more wary of him after some of the Corona conspiracy guff he has been giving air to.

His tendency to use a hundred words when 10 succinctly put would suffice is also aggravating, but as you are so enamoured I will avail myself of more of his work. Who knows.

Considering the massive opposition the present POTUS has to deal with, is it any wonder things don't run as smooth as they should ?
I saw several Heads of Departments on TV today & they all commented how well they can work with Trump. According to them he listens but that's not reported !

Foxy and SR,

I am a keen follower of the Oxford Union debates. I think that you will find plenty of keen conservative minds still active.

For example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njj_rG_9HKM

And there are many more younger versions too.

However, I think that this is a feeble attempt by SR to dump on Trump. That Trump is inarticulate and boorish is self evident, but he won the hearts and minds of enough US citizens to take the presidency, and I believe that it was primarily due to a collapse of authenticity by the democrats. It showed clearly that the highbrow elite of the left looked down on the blue collar workers who subsequently abandoned the democrats (workers party) in droves. The fumbling presumptive nominee Biden looks like giving Trump an easy ride into his second term.

Finally, I fail to see much talent on the "progressive" side of politics either.