Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sometimes I wonder ...
Chuck's rule usually works to defeat idiots.
Chuck was a colleague of mine at DeVry in Kansas City. Chuck was an old Army tech sergeant with a lot of old Army stories, and he loved to tell them. He'd pull up a chair; plant it carefully to block me into my desk space; pull out an unfiltered Pall Mall; tap it on his wristwatch until it was so round, so firm, so fully packed; pull out his lifetime-guaranteed Zippo; fire up the unfiltered Pall Mall; and then start the stories.
All of Chuck's stories had the same plotline. Some pencil-necked second lieutenant was making trouble for the men by requiring them to follow some idiotic procedure that would cause utter chaos if truly implemented. Chuck and the men tried to keep things working while mollifying the pencil-necked 2Lt, but finally Chuck rebelled.
"So I sez Ho Kay. We'll do it your way."
And the men would then do exactly what the pencil-necked 2Lt wanted, utter chaos would ensue, and the pencil-necked 2Lt would back off.
So now I sez: Why do the brand-R politicians insist on doing things their own way? They only differ with brand-D on a few minor points, which don't nearly justify all the team cheering and jeering. If all brand-R politicians declared themselves to be Democrats, the most intransigent elements of our system would be flummoxed. The pencil-necked bureaucrats who love to make rules favoring one party would lose all their fun. The arrogant union leaders who rebel at everything with the R label would have to distinguish more carefully. The media on both sides would be unable to automatically pick their Good Guys and Bad Guys by label; they'd have to ask real questions and think consistently about real ideology.
Why do I sez it just now? Because Wash gov Gregoire has already extracted bigger concessions from the teachers union than the concessions proposed by Wisc gov Walker. The unions grudgingly but quietly went along with the cuts in benefits here because Gregoire wears the D. The unions are causing mass revolt in Wisc, over a smaller set of cuts, because Walker wears the R. ¶ 1:02 PM
Chuck was a colleague of mine at DeVry in Kansas City. Chuck was an old Army tech sergeant with a lot of old Army stories, and he loved to tell them. He'd pull up a chair; plant it carefully to block me into my desk space; pull out an unfiltered Pall Mall; tap it on his wristwatch until it was so round, so firm, so fully packed; pull out his lifetime-guaranteed Zippo; fire up the unfiltered Pall Mall; and then start the stories.
All of Chuck's stories had the same plotline. Some pencil-necked second lieutenant was making trouble for the men by requiring them to follow some idiotic procedure that would cause utter chaos if truly implemented. Chuck and the men tried to keep things working while mollifying the pencil-necked 2Lt, but finally Chuck rebelled.
"So I sez Ho Kay. We'll do it your way."
And the men would then do exactly what the pencil-necked 2Lt wanted, utter chaos would ensue, and the pencil-necked 2Lt would back off.
So now I sez: Why do the brand-R politicians insist on doing things their own way? They only differ with brand-D on a few minor points, which don't nearly justify all the team cheering and jeering. If all brand-R politicians declared themselves to be Democrats, the most intransigent elements of our system would be flummoxed. The pencil-necked bureaucrats who love to make rules favoring one party would lose all their fun. The arrogant union leaders who rebel at everything with the R label would have to distinguish more carefully. The media on both sides would be unable to automatically pick their Good Guys and Bad Guys by label; they'd have to ask real questions and think consistently about real ideology.
Why do I sez it just now? Because Wash gov Gregoire has already extracted bigger concessions from the teachers union than the concessions proposed by Wisc gov Walker. The unions grudgingly but quietly went along with the cuts in benefits here because Gregoire wears the D. The unions are causing mass revolt in Wisc, over a smaller set of cuts, because Walker wears the R. ¶ 1:02 PM
