Mailbag: Nostalgia: "Memories of a Youthful Conservative"

(Ed.note: I received this short note from a loyal Observer reader who was thinking back on the lessons of youth. )


"My youthful conservatism was based on an idealized vision of American society as basically a classless society. Financial rewards were earned on a level playing field and were proportional to merit and effort, or so I thought. Corporate titans amassed investment capital by saving up their earnings from their boyhood paper routes, or borrowing money from doctors and lawyers. In my middle years I learned, through self-education and observation, that this was wrong. George W. Bush and his father, Donald Trump, Dan Quayle, Malcolm Forbes Jr., Trent Lott, Mitch McConnell, Michael Huffington, and others have taught me that their every position and decision is completely predictable, based on whatever serves the self-interests of the monied few."