The Smell of Obsession

During our ballroom dancing days, my wife regularly used a perfume called "Obsession." The name made sense to me, because Obsession was one of the most amazingly alluring scents I've ever smelled. She doesn't wear it very often now, probably because it tends to make me overly amorous.

Nowadays, though, obsession has another smell, and it's less an aroma than a foul stench. 

In a prime-time speech from the Gilded House last Thursday, Der Furor whined and complained about elections that he doesn't win ... his obsession with losing the 2020 election and his desperate attempts to rig future elections in his favor puts Captain Ahab's obsession with killing the white whale to shame. He's obsessed with having his name on things (the renamed airport in Fort Lauderdale, for instance*), with being surrounded by the trappings of wealth and luxury, with being able to enjoy slavish devotion of an army of yes-persons who will never tell him he's wrong. He's obsessed with having a new Air Force One that meets his standards of grandeur, if not the Air Force and Secret Service standards of safety and security. He's obsessed with tariffs which, used both for economic and vengeance reasons, have thrown the world economy into chaos. He's obsessed with monetizing the presidency, taxpaying citizens be damned.

Der Furor is not the only obsessive in Washington, of course. 

Consider Secretary of Defense (not War) Pete Hegseth, who is pathologically obsessed with an almost comical image of hypermasculine militarism rather than sound force management of the force and careful strategic advice to a president who desperately needs it, but nevertheless ignores it when given ... which, nowadays, isn't often.

Consider Stephen Miller, who is obsessed with ridding the country of immigrants, legal or not, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who is only too eager to help him do it.

Consider Robert F. Kennedy, whose obsession with ludicrous health ideas and the eradication of vaccines has led to a resurgence of diseases long thought eliminated.

Consider Elon Musk, the world's first trillionaire, whose obsession with slashing government waste has crippled vital programs upon which the American people depend, damaged valuable international programs, and wrecked broad swaths of a once-functioning government.

Obsession. It's no longer a delightful perfume ... it's the ugly stench of an incompetent government.

You may be interested in this article by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times on the topic.

Have a good day, and wear a mask to help you get past the stench of Der Furor's incompetence. Too bad you can't wear a mask on your brain, too.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* You may have seen that United Airlines plans to offer free flight changes to passengers who object to Der Furor's name on their destination. The change in policy came after angry customers flooded the airport’s online contact form with complaints after the airport was renamed. As you might suspect, the airline now says that's not true ... United is evidently less worried about running afoul of Der Furor than about responding to angry customers.

Eingebaute Vorfahrt

When I was living in Germany and learning all sorts of colloquial expressions to fill out my school-taught German, Agnes taught me the expression eingebaute Vorfahrt, which translates literally as "built-in driving priority." It's applied to expensive cars like high-end Mercedes and BMW's that often seem to roar up behind you on the autobahn, flashing their lights to demand that you get your lesser automobile out of the way so they can move on ... the drivers of such cars believe that their machines have eingebaute Vorfahrt.

I don't often have occasion to use that term here in the States (although I have used it once in a while), but I thought about it today when I read this interesting article in the Washington Post: "Are Rich People More Likely to Lie, Cheat, Steal? Science Explains the World of Manafort and Gates."

The article describes a set of experiments that tend to confirm the corrupting effects of wealth. The key takeaway is this:

"The findings build on similar research in recent years that suggests wealth and power strip people of their inhibitions, increase risk taking and feelings of entitlement and invulnerability. At the same time, power makes people less empathetic and able to see others' perspectives ... 'Wealth is basically a mechanism for power, and power has a freeing effect on people. It takes away the constraints of society and frees people to act according to their dominant desires,' said Adam Galinsky of Columbia Business School, whose experiments have explored how power often propels people's actions. In some cases, those desires may be altruistic or helpful to society, so power heightens those goals and can give rise to effective philanthropists. Often, however, power leads to self-serving behaviors unrestrained by the usual concerns over rules or the consequences for others."

Yes, what you long suspected is more than likely true - the rich are different, and the dominance of wealthy and powerful people in government ought to be of some concern, because ... well ... they have a whole different set problems and concerns from yours.

They have eingebaute Vorfahrt, after all.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo