Belief in Democracy and Steven Muller

 Kevin Drum posted  concerning Republican belief in democracy, taking the position that Republicans believe in democracy, just that many do not believe in the integrity of the election process.

I commented on it, but didn't mention that it triggered a memory of a government course in my freshman year (I think--it was taught by a professor who later became head of Johns Hopkins--Steven Muller--I did not know he had a movie career.)

Professor Muller taught a course in political thought, which included Rousseau's theory of the "general will", with his rather vague, IMO, ideas on how society determines the general will. I didn't know Muller's background (Jewish refugee from prewar Germany) before today, so I don't really know whether I'm stating my own conclusions or was influenced by his take on Rousseau.  

There's the contrast between the European take on democracy, following Rousseau, and the Anglo-Saxon (that's probably not a politically correct term these days) take of Locke et.al. who emphasize process and the protection of individual rights by means of institutional arrangements. 

It seems that Republicans now are drifting away from the Lockean position, losing faith in institutions, and relying more on the comforting idea that they are the party of the real America.

Lessons of the Past--F-35

 I read "Skunk Works" recently. For those who don't remember, it was a unit of Lockheed Aircraft which developed innovative planes, particularly the U-2, the stealth fighter, and the RB-71.  By having good people dedicated to the job led by someone who could navigate the bureaucracy and still inspire, it did damn well.

They were not involved in the F-111 program, known to geezers as McNamara's TFX. It seems from the wikipedia article for it that it turned out okay, but back in the day it was heavily criticized for being over-complicates and too expensive as a result of McNamara's pet idea--have one plane which could serve both the Navy and Air Force. 

My initial reaction when reading this Salon piece on the F-35 was to remember the TFX.

More on Pigford

 Been doing a little research re: Pigford suits and came across this listing of relevant legal documents. 

The last ones relate to "cy pres".  It seems to refer to a legal proceeding allowing a judge to apply some judgment when needed.  In the case of Pigford, apparently there was some money left over because approved Pigford II claimants failed to cash their check or follow through--$12 million+ to be exact.

So in 2018 Judge Friedman approved the distribution of the money, splitting it among many different organizations.

Gardening Time

Been in the garden yesterday and today.  The long range forecast is for temps above freezing, the snow is gone, and the soil is in good shape.  

So aching muscles but the satisfaction of doing something physical. 

The Persistence of Folk Wisdom--Memes?

The current effort to vaccinate for Covid-19 has run into resistance, particularly among black Americans.  The conventional wisdom explains this by the past history of science mistreating blacks, in particular the Tuskegee experiment.

The participants in the study are all dead now, the last one dying 15 years ago.  The study itself ended in 1972.

Assuming the conventional wisdom is correct, the extent to which people have become aware of it, and the duration of the time since the ending is striking. I wonder if sociologists have studied the factors which account for this penetration of the public consciousness, particularly in comparison with other memes.

{Here's further discussion of the issue--perhaps the meme lives longer in the minds of the intellectuals than the lay person?]

FSA Administrator Designate

  Zach Ducheneaux is from South Dakota and a Native American, the first for FSA. USDA announcement.

Gloria Montano Greene is nominated to be Deputy Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation.  She has been state executive director for Arizona in the Obama administration, while Ducheneaux isn't shown as having any FSA experience.

I wonder--the Trump Administration reorganized USDA--IIRC they moved NRCS and FSA into the same undersecretary's remit, where it had been FAS and FSA together?  Wonder if Vilsack will go back to the old organization or keep the new.  The establishment of the FPAC Business Center to serve admin functions of NRCS and FSA would argue for keeping the new, but I've no idea of how well that is working nor whether there could be any advantage politically to reorganizing.

Global Warming and the Arctic

 Vox has this post which updates a previous post of mine which noted commercial shippers using the Arctic in the summertime to go from Asia to Europe or vice versa.  Now it's possible in winter, at least some years.

Worn-out Knees in Pants

 I now have a hole in the right knee of my LLBean jeans.  Don't know how long I've had them, but they're well faded and well stained, and I'm happy with the wear I've gotten from them.

Back in my youth, when I was harder on my clothes than I am now, and during the period when I didn't grow much, my mother would fix such a hole by cutting a rectangular piece out of the knee.  She'd take an old pair of jeans and cut a matching piece from the back of one of the legs, and then sew the repair patch into the hole.

I don't remember whether I wore those patched jeans to school; I may well have worn them for weekends and kept newer jeans for school, but I won't swear to that.

We don't do that anymore.  Back in my youth jeans were maybe $3 or so, roughly 3 hours worth of work at the minimum wage, or maybe the price of 30 hamburgers. These days I'll spend $25 on LLBean jeans (using sales) and a McDonald's quarter pounder is $3.75. Our 1949 Chevrolet seems to have cost about $1500 (I'd remember it as $1700).

I'm sure people still patch the knees of jeans, but not many. 

Looking Forward to Rosa Brooks

 I really liked Rosa Brooks' last book, so I pre-ordered her new one, Tangled Up in Blue, Policing the American City. Haven't started it yet, as I'm still finishing Midnight in Chernobyl.  She and Peter Moskos, who I follow on Twitter, had an interesting exchange.  Here's a quote from a Georgetown interview:

It’s incredibly hard to be a good cop. This really came home to me once I started patrolling.

By underfunding other social services we’ve created a society in which cops are all-around first responders to everything from shootings, stabbings, domestic assaults and burglaries to mentally ill people walking down the middle of the street talking to themselves. And no one really has the skills to handle all those very different kinds of situations well.

In the interview she uses my favorite phrase: "It's complicated". 

Humor and Politics

 Ann Althouse at her blog has over the years considered Trump as being funny, humorous, tongue-in-cheek.  I could never see it.  In the wake of Rush Limbaugh's death some of the remembrances on the left have noted his comedy.  Never listened to him, didn't like what was reported about what he said (i.e., AIDs, McNabb, etc.).

I've always thought humor was one of the virtues, but I dislike Trump and Limbaugh's politics, so how do I reconcile the two?  

I'll assume for the sake of argument that both men were quite funny. Typically the humor I appreciate is directed at the establishment, from the position of an outsider. The other category is self-mocking; a liberal mocking liberals, etc.  (Wife and I enjoy "The Good Fight" TV series which does both. ) What I don't enjoy is jokes aimed at outsiders.  

That seems a fairly defensible position.  But then there's the category of blue jokes. Those can be defended as mocking the human body, so again self-mocking. 

Perhaps what I'm struggling with is a matter of power.  As a liberal I see Trump and Limbaugh as using humor from a position of power, to attack and denigrate those weaker than they are.  A conservative who perhaps firmly believes she's living in a world dominated by liberals who have all the power can find them funny because they're compatriots in the great rebellion against liberal hegemony?