Kunstler gets serious

Typically, I ignore James Kunstler and, in fact, I posted the reasons for this. And this is despite that fact that I agree with many of his positions, particularly with respect to the exigency of our energy situation. But his bombastic prose, his need to reuse the same symbols of his disdain for modern U.S. culture (tatoo parlors and tatooed people, suburbs, cars, etc.) to the point of exhaustion, and his extreme repetitiveness finally caused me to stop reading him except on an occasional basis. And, on these occasions, it was the "same old same old."

But Kunstler's most recent post  in his "Clusterfuck Nation-Blog" is different. He doesn't rail on about tatoos, cars, suburbs, salad shooters, cheez doodles, banker boyz, etc. He states without bombast the things that he believes a sitting and any future U.S. President should do and the reasons why. I find it to be compelling and accurate.

I'm sure that I'm far to the conservative side in comparison to Kunstler, but as I've posted repeatedly, the idiocy, ignorance, obstinacy, and intransigence that passes for conservative thought these days disgusts me. The positions taken by Kunstler should be celebrated by true conservative thinkers. He deplores the security state, the militarization of police forces, the thievery engaged in by the financial sector, the revolving door in Washington, DC for lobbyists, cabinet members, congresspersons, etc. between government and private interests, Citizens United, the state of perpetual war and foreign adventurism, etc. A true conservative should applaud every one of these and I do.

Further, Kunstler points out that not one candidate, announced or otherwise, has adopted any significant fraction of these positions, from the buffoonish Trump and the supercilious slime-ball Cruz on the right to the self-appointed rightful heir Clinton and the daft Sanders on the left.

Do I think that Kunstler's post, let alone mine, will move the populace to demand better? No, even though I believe that most would agree with the grievances that Kunstler suggests be "nailed to the White House gate" (though I suspect that anyone approaching the White House with a hammer and nails would be whisked off to Guantanamo at best and shot at worst, particularly were that person to not have the attribute of being caucasian - full disclosure, I'm caucasian).

Kunstler typically generates several hundred comments to each of his posts, this one is no different. Reading them is a somewhat sadder experience, there's a lot of "eat the rich," "burn it down" comments which serve no purpose. But I understand the frustration exemplified by such sentiments.

I don't guess that this deviation from his usual smug, self-satisfied, and precious cleverness indicates a new seriousness, but I'll check tomorrow (his posts come out on Mondays). It's well worth the five minutes it takes to read.