The Reality-Based Community

Francois Hollande is a Threat to French Tradition

Youth unemployment is high in France; many people don’t get into a stable job until their mid-20s. Meanwhile, French Presidential candidate François Hollande wants to lower the retirement age to 60.

The math is eye-opening. French life expectancy is about 80. Under the Hollande proposal, the typical French person will have a working life of less than half of that (age 25-60 or 35 years).

This constitutes a grave threat to France tradition.

If they are expected to work less than half of their lifetimes, when, I ask you, when, will the French people find the time to go on strike?

Great News for Stanley Kubrick Fans

The newly restored version of Kubrick’s first great film, “The Killing”, has just come out on DVD. Peter Rainer does an excellent job of analyzing this thrilling caper film, which brought Kubrick together with master pulp novelist Jim Thompson.

Don’t miss this one.

The Iron Lung Lady

Paul Costello relates the disturbing tale of how Margaret Thatcher made a living after being PM: She entered into a lucrative deal with Big Tobacco.

Kin dis po’ slave se’ve yo’ up some nice sahcasm, massa?

Not clear which is harder to believe: that an ex-slaveowner would have written a letter inviting a former slave to return to the plantation, or that the freedman had the patience to compose a literary masterpiece instead of a howl of rage. I wish I could have done a tenth as well. Note the exquisite piling-on of detail: even the specific express company to which back wages should be sent.

Romney: “I’m not concerned about the very poor”

Mitt Romney’s often distant relationship with consensus reality has drawn criticism in this space, and no doubt will again. But it’s important to give credit when due, even to opponents, and when the Governor “says the thing that is” he deserves to be acknowledged for it: all the more since truth-telling seems to be difficult for him.

Of course, his veracity in this case is merely subjective. He correctly reports his own lack of concern about the poor. His optimistic view about the “safety net” is somewhat detached from reality, and of course his support of the Ryan budget would mean utterly shredding that safety net. Still, even subjective honesty represents progress compared to Romney’s usual pathological lying.

Update Naturally, Romney is whining about being taken out of context, but this isn’t the first time he’s said it, nor was this his most direct statement of indifference. In an October debate, Romney said, “The very poor have a safety net, they’re taken care of.” Even today, he’s saying, “We have a safety net for the poor, and if there are holes in it, I will work to repair that. And if there are people that are falling through the cracks I want to fix that.”

“If”? Doesn’t he know? Or care enough to find out?

Just to add to Romney’s out-of-touchness: He seems to think that Medicaid, which pays for nursing-home care that would otherwise be breaking the backs of lots of middle-class families, is somehow only for “the very poor.”

Documenting the Fall of the GOP Establishment

The GOP, as Kabaservice notes, has not always been a bastion of reflexive hostility to elites or to government. Quite the contrary. It was none other than George Romney—governor of Michigan, father of Mitt—who in 1968 campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination by embarking on a 10,000-mile tour of poverty across America, insisting that it was essential to “listen to the voices from the ghetto.” Can anyone imagine his son, who insists that “corporations are people,” uttering a remotely similar statement?

That’s a quote from an engaging book review by Jacob Heilbrunn. The book, which sounds fascinating and I am going to buy (not from Amazon) is Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, from Eisenhower to the Tea Party by Geoffrey Kabaservice.

Random reflection

Four candidates left on the Republican side, and not one actual Protestant. I suppose that represents progress, of a sort.

Footnote Yes, Ron Paul is nominally a Baptist, but he named his son for Ayn Rand. Update This seems to be a mistake; per Warren Terra in comments, apparently the birth certificate says “Randal.” And Paul, whatever his theology, is certainly a WASP. But the fact that the one Protestant in the race is the one candidate certain not to get the nomination still shows that this is not your father’s GOP. Perhaps the Republicans, true to the Know-Nothing part of their heritage, will always be the party of exclusion, but precisely who gets excluded changes over time.

Projection

Anti-Romney Red bloggers and pundits keep insisting that “liberals” and “the media” will stir up anti-Mormon bigotry to defeat Romney. In fact, the folks who have been playing the Mormon card have been affiliated with Romney’s wingnut rivals.

Oversight

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell gives his totalitarian Party three nonsense slogans: “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery,” and “Ignorance is Strength.”

How did he miss “Corporations are People”?

Game theory and crime control

John Buntin’s cover story in the current issue of Governing is about as cogent a summary of new thinking on crime control as possible for such a convoluted topic.