Member-only story
A thought of the day
When the coal sprouts in the basement
Years back, people were storing coal and potatoes in the basements for winter. Instead of rushing to a store, they brought a few potatoes from the cellar every day. Usually, in early spring, potatoes started sprouting, and one needed to remove regularly fresh sprouts; otherwise, potatoes rotted. Kids usually were ordered to do it, and, as it is easy to guess, they loathed it.
From those times arrives a saying that applies to Andrew Cheng for his article belittling Republicans, “Why Republicans Reject COVID-19 Vaccines.” The saying goes: When I read again liberals bashing conservatives or conservative bashing liberals, the coal in my basement sprouts. I assume that Andrew Cheng does not keep coal in the basement. Maybe he should. This way, the coal could get pissed off by the futility of bashing conservatives and would start sprouting, keeping Andrew busy with something more productive.
As one can predict, when I got fed up with mindless bashing, I wrote about it. It is my longest essay on Medium, but to my surprise, it is one of the most popular. I claim that the conservatives versus liberals split is a partition inside political elites in Washington, DC, and it does not reflect actual divisions among Americans. In my view, today, the only meaningful choice we all face is “Capitalism versus socialism.”
