Letters We Wish We'd Written - George Will Is An Ass Dept.

In today's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, one of three letters taking to task a recent progressives-bashing screed by Tory plutocrat BFF George "Let Them Eat Quiche" Will:

Regarding George F. Will’s Dec. 29 column, “Bad year for progressives”:

Skipping over the flights of self-indulgence that so endear Mr. Will’s writing to me — liberals are guilty of “bottomless condescension toward the public and limitless faith in their own cleverness”? What is that saying about pots and kettles?

I’d like to examine one little point Mr. Will mentioned without really unpacking: He cited, as examples of liberal overreach at its worst, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s progressivism and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program.

First, Mr. Will claimed that voters rebuked this utter tyranny, but I seem to recall these being the eras that created Social Security and Medicare, two of the most popular government programs in history. If universal support is a rebuke, well, let us liberals be rebuked again.

Second, the Great Society left us with museums, public broadcasting and expanded transportation networks. Perhaps the thing many voters find most offensive about conservatism is how little it produces in exchange for its overwhelming kindness to the rich. I have yet to see an exhibit at the “Museum Funded by a Government You Can Drown in a Bathtub” or to drive to New York on the “Interstate You Stand Astride Yelling Stop.” Conservatism is the movement of poverty — of people, of ideas, of legacy.

Josh Raisher, Washington

Thank you, Mr. Raisher.

There's also this succinct piece on Will's laughable lack of self- awareness (not to mention his historical revisionism) by the wonderful Charles P. Pierce.  Both pieces will now and forever appear in the bulging "George Will is an ass" file.