Table of Contents
Pre-Preface: xi
As We Go to Press …
Preface: Manifesto for Extreme Moderation xv
Introduction: O Beautiful for … Pilgrim Feet? 1
One Nation-Divided as Hell 25
Coastals vs. Heartlanders 27
Goodbye to Classical Liberalism … "It's the End of the World!" 39
Big Fat Politics 51
But Thank You Anyway, Partisan Politicians 61
Robin Hood Arithmetic 67
On the Other Hand … Just Give Them the Money 73
It's Time to Make Rich People Uncomfortable Again 77
Negative Rights vs. Positive Rights It's Positively Confusing 81
Sympathy vs. Empathy Is It Better to Hold People's Hands or Bust into Their Heads? 85
Patriotism vs. Nationalism 91
Big Brother (and Everybody Else) Is Watching You Thoughts on Rereading 1984 97
Whose Bright Idea Was It to Make Sure That Every Idiot in the World Was in Touch with Every Other Idiot? 103
A Brief Historical Digression on How Communication Has Devolved 109
And While I'm Ranting Against the Digital Age Let Me Not Forget to Excoriate an Aspect of Social Media that Lacks Even Sociability … On the Fresh Hell of The Internet of Things 113
Lessons in Fake News from Two Old Masters of the Form 119
Woke to the Sound of Laughter 123
Why Kids &Cyrund; Commies And Never Mind How the Free Market Bankrupted that Backwards R Big Box Store that Once Held a Greedy Monopoly on Selling Toys 129
Knowing Write from Left 137
Educating My Kids 145
My Own Lousy Education And How it May Be of Aid to the Nation 151
What We Can Learn from the Sixties Drug Culture 157
Can the Government Be Run Like a Business? 165
Two, Four, Six, Eight, Who Do We Appreciate … The Electoral College! 169
Is a Reasonable, Sensible, Moderate Foreign Policy Even Possible? 175
The Inaugural Address I'd Like To Hear the President-Whoever It May Be-Deliver 183
My Own Personal Fantasy League Presidential Election 189
A License to Drive (Me Crazy) 195
The Founding Fathers Have Some Words With Us 201
What I Like About U.(S.A.) 211
Acknowledgments 221