R.I.P., Christopher Hitchens

He could be so right, and so wrong.  When he was announced as a guest on a TV show, I was as likely to say, "Oh no," as to celebrate.  So I was surprised by how sad his passing made me.

He was not a slave to any strict party line, as I'm afraid I mostly am, and I can respect an independent, honest thinker such as he was.

I've read several tributes from Hitchens's friends today, and a quote by Jacob Weisberg sums up the way I feel as well as anything.

"Here's what I learned from Christopher Hitchens in the 25 years I knew him. Don't let anyone else do your thinking for you. Follow your principles to the end. Don't flinch from the truth. Repeat until the last ounce of strength drains from your body."

Hopeless romantics

I've become convinced that the Tea Partiers, as well as fundamentalists of all kinds, are hopeless romantics.  The idea came to me as I was reading "The Federalist," and realized that the Right still has a hankering for the Articles of Confederation.

Take any long lost cause, and these folks will still be fighting for it.  Never mind that a strong federal government saved the country from dissolution.  People still fear the federal government (why not the state government?)  Never mind that unregulated markets have crashed the economy twice; people still have a fervent belief that an unfettered free market will put everything right.  Never mind that prayer nearly always fails; people continue to pray, and come up with ever more elaborate reasons when it doesn't work.

No matter what the evidence, they will tell you that we have failed because we have not been pure enough.  Not strict enough.  We must go back to whatever we tried that didn't work and do it right this time.

I suppose that calling them hopeless romantics is just another way of saying that they are true believers.