The new issue of The Atlantic Monthly came yesterday. It looks alright, perhaps a little sub-par compared to most issues. It has some good stuff, though, like this funny re-run of P.J. O'Rourke's views on politicians. Excerpt:
What is obnoxious about the motives of politicians–whatever those motives may be–is that politicians must announce their motives as visionary and grand. Try this with the ordinary activities of your day:
My dear wife and beloved children, I say to you this–I will mow the lawn. Lawns are a symbol of America's spacious freedoms and green prosperity. Such noble tokens of well-being and independence must not go untended, lest we show the world that liberty is mere license and see the very ground upon which we stand, as Americans, grow tangled with the weeds of irresponsibility and be fruitful only in the tares of greed. I will give the grass clippings to the poor.
Politicians are not, as a class, outstandingly evil or insane. For the most part they're just ridiculous people ”¦
