Absurd Intellectual

The big political gossip news of the day, of course, is that Jenna Bush Hager, Dubya’s daughter, is taking a job as a Today correspondent. Why are people wailing and gnashing their teeth? The New York Times’ “Opinionator” offers a well-crafted roundup, running down the opinion of others in a way that puts it all into context.

Because it’s not just “Oh, shrug, another born-with-a-golden-horseshoe kid gets a cushy job.” Opinionator points out that Jenna’s already had opportunity after opportunity: including penning two bestselling books and working for UNICEF.

But the real scary stuff comes at the end, with a link to Andrew Sullivan’s commentary. “Nepotism, he writes, is a symptom of a greater national disease.”:

Late empires are known for several things: a self-obsessed, self-serving governing class, small over-reaching wars that bankrupt the Treasury, debt that balloons until retreat from global power becomes not a choice but a necessity, and a polity unable to address reasonably any of these questions - or how the increasing corruption of the media enables them all.

That’s “late empire” as in, before the fall. See also: Rome, Russia, Ottoman. Is British the best-case scenario?