Revisiting Old Posts — One On, One Off

Posted by Bob Lord

In my first substantive post here, back in January, I described how we were living through the "Atlas Shrugged Upside Down," a society where damaging conservative policies are allowed to proceed to their crazy conclusion. You can read it here: http://www.blogforarizona.com/blog/2012/01/atlas-shrugged-upside-down.html

Turns out, I was on point in two respects. First, the conservative I tied to Ayn Rand most closely was Paul Ryan, so I picked a meaningful target. Second, and far more significantly, it seems that a credible author may have written the Atlas Shrugged Upside Down novel. Chris Hedges reivewed it in his weekly post here: http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_mirage_of_our_lives_20120827/

I've loaded the book, A Hologram for a King, unto my Kindle, but am only a chapter or two into it, so I'm not in a position to vouch for it personally. However, a recommend from Chris Hedges should be good enough to go on, so it's worth a $9.99 gamble.

So, I can take credit for being on with that post. I blew it on another one, however. Months ago, I predicted Romeny would pick Rubio as his VP, because he would be in too much trouble with the Latino vote otherwise. I could point to the baggage Rubio supposedly has as the reason I got that wrong, but that would be intellectually dishonest. Romney decided to double down on white, double down on male, and triple down on plutocratic. I assumed Romney would pick strategically. He didn't. He picked a soulmate. On the surface, the only strategic thinking associated with the Ryan pick on Romney's part may have been that youth vote, because Ryan has ACDC songs on his Ipod.