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Saturday, November 08, 2008
The Randy Marsh Effect
I can see it happening already. The supporters of John McCain are coming out of their bunkers and wondering if they overreacted. Perhaps Obama will not be the end of American society. He could do alright after all.
At the same time a citizen of small town Colorado is waking up to the worst hangover of his life. He realizes that someone has stolen his television. Then his son tells him that his boss called. Randy Marsh is fired.
Mr. Marsh comes to a realization. Maybe it does not matter so much who the President is. Maybe no one can make the world a better place the way he thought that Mr. Obama could. Perhaps reality is simply too much for Mr. Marsh. In his disappointment he turns on Mr. Obama.
Eventually most people in America, and throughout the world, will wake up and do as Randy Marsh has done. The expectations that people have are much too high. If history has proven anything, the world sometimes gets a little better and sometimes gets a little worse. But the world never changes.
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 8, 2008 in U.S. politics | Permalink
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Comments
Hugh, I think you are right.
Hey, have a look at what the Onion says about Obama supporters. It is so ironic, and funny!
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/obama_win_causes_obsessive
Posted by: TM | 2008-11-08 1:22:37 PM
"If history has proven anything, the world sometimes gets a little better and sometimes gets a little worse. But the world never changes. "
Well said Hugh.
Posted by: Condor | 2008-11-08 9:02:10 PM
Hugh,
I'd take issue with the claim that the world never changes. In the aggregate, the (Western) world has improved incredibly and almost constantly over the last couple centuries. The speed of the improvement has changed, but the fact that things are improving has not. For instance, people are becoming more free through increased prosperity so quickly that they are largely able to ignore how quickly they are losing freedoms through government.
Additionally, the American people have changed in the past century from people that generally believed in self-sufficiency, entrepreneurship and the power of philanthropy to a people who rely very heavily on government to solve all of those problems.
What we *can't* say is that politicians have ever led change. People lead change, and that's what will moderate Obama's implementation of many grand plans and will lead to a lot of disappointment for the Randy Marshes of America.
Posted by: Janet | 2008-11-08 10:22:31 PM
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