Revisiting the Past

In reading the Halberstam book and revisiting the beginnings of America's involvement in Vietnam, I am struck by how similar the partisan arguments are to those that go on today. McCarthy scarred the political discourse more then is acknowledged. We haven't really moved beyond those arguments, even though we censured their originator.

Many realized that McCarthy's slurs could be repackaged and cleansed, but still would put politicians on the defensive. The message would be the same, and as it became mainstream, it became more dangerous.

I've read Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign a couple of times in the past year and am amazed at how elections have not really changed, even as the media has become unrecognizable. In fact, because the media has changed so much, they are so self-referential that they refuse to recognize all that has stayed the same.

Apropos of nothing, of course, just rambling