I wrote IN DEFENSE OF ANARCHISM in 1965, and finally published it in 1970, forty years ago. And yet, people still read it, comment on it, explain at length why it is all wrong, assign it to students in college courses, even -- or so I gather from a Canadian correspondent -- try to put some of its proposals into practice. But in the world of the blog, four hours ago is old news, and yesterday is forgotten. The insatiable maw of the world wide web gobbles up even one's most carefully thought through posts and spits them out again barely half-digested.
Today is a new day with a blank screen, and I have nothing to say! Oh, I could comment on the latest wingnut hysterical alarm, which is that President Obama wants to give Manhattan Island back to the Indians. [Why he would want to do this, when it can be counted on to give him an overwhelming vote in 2012, I do not quite understand.] Or I could snark about the fact that the newly elected Republican Congressman who whined about having to wait thirty days for his cadillac Congressional health plan to kick in has apparently been so great an embarrassment to his colleagues that they have denied him a seat on the Committee overseeing health care. I might even pause to note that in a recent poll, only Massachusetts residents have a more unfavorable opinion of Sarah Palin than the people of her very own Alaska.
But those are cheap shots, hardly worthy of a deep thinker like myself. So I must content myself with wishing you all happy holidays one more time, and hope that the muse will visit me tomorrow.
