Simple, Hard Solutions - The Age of Reagan

The progressive administrative state was the result of a political movement that resulted in the enhancement of the power and scope of the federal government's administrative apparatus in an attempt to cope with what it saw as NEW and THREATENING PROBLEMS of a rapidly industrializing economy and society.

Starting with the Progressive Movement in the early 20th century, the political classes sought expertise of intellectuals and acedemics, as if the world had become too complex for the citizen to self-govern.

Perhaps our elite governing class was over its head.

The premise of the administrative state is that our public problems are coplicated with no easy answers, whose remedy requires sophistocated legislative and extensive bureaucratic management.

The ruling classes thought that life and problems of life are so complicated, that modern life inflicts wounds on us all, and the healing of problems and wounds are COMPLICATED, to be ameliated only by professionals and intellectuals with nuanced and complicated tinkering.

And with that nuance, all professionals can then hide from consequences of results.

"We did it by committee. Everyone has responsibility."

Therefore no one has responsibility.

Remind you of Obama Care?

The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964 - 1980, by Steven F. Hayward

Why am I reading Age of Reagan? It is in research for my novel.

I am writing a novel set in London 1972 about a young American woman recently graduated from college whose life is turned upside down by a central betrayal that sends her on a flight away from the turbulence of the times in search of peace and stability. The time period is right at that seam in history when The Old Liberal Order was being overtaken by this new age of ours, The Age of Terrorism. My protagonist is caught up in swirling currents of London’s radical underground and learns a secret about the opening of the Olympic Games in Munich that if not exposed could spell disaster for many. Or is she mistaken?

We are so accustomed to presentation in the mass media of the Vietnam era as a time of magic, libertine wonders, and really important socio-political struggles. Witness the “Recreate ‘68” nostalgia for the bracing backbone of something to rebel against. Follow that 70’s Show with groovy jargon and flower-power graphics, all so self-assured of its own importance in the rockin’ times. Snarky attitudes. But cool. Cooool, man; like – hey? And the current mass media would have us think that all those not completely on-board with the approved revolutionary side were, are, and forever will be – what? Not just wrong but disgusting. Unworthy of discussion. They believe that they won the argument because, hey man, everyone worth knowing has the same opinion. They don’t know anyone who feels differently. If their viewpoint isn’t on top, there must be something wrong with the process.

To have lived through that time in history was different than it is now presented. It was confusing.

And I want to know why. You don’t find out why by eating baby food.

I'm Reading Something Worth Reading, Thank God.

After the profound disappointment of Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I need something well-written and profound to chase away the unpleasant aftertaste.

The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964 – 1980, by Steven F. Hayward.

The blog in which I reviewed "Girl" is called The Murder Room, named after P.D.James' book, and concentrates on my obsession with mystery genre, my guilty pleasure.

Age of Reagan is NOT in the genre. I will be handling that book review in this my new blog, The Cluttered Corner.

I am also reading The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer, a historical romance. I will review that book, also in The Cluttered Corner, but only at completion. I am not a fan of the romance genre especially in its current incarnation of feminine emotional pornography overdrawn with politically correct female protagonists way, way out of step with actual female experience in the time in which the stories are set.

But Georgette Heyer is widely credited with starting our modern historical romance genre. One might credit Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and others with the provenance and there is much to be said to support that claim. But Heyer wrote in our times about a time long gone; Austen, the Brontes and other foremothers wrote about their own time at the time they lived.

Not in the same league as Steven Hayward's books, still Heyer is also worth reading if only to appreciate how in touch she is with enduring feminine reality. (In stark contrast to Stieg Larsson's male fantasies. I digress. Sorry for the pot shot.)

By the way, I highly recommend Heyer’s historical romance novels Frederika and A Civil Contract. You will not have heaving this and engorged that, but rather a mature (meant in the highest possible sense), insightful story of women in Regency and Early Victorian time periods. No, it is not great literature on par with, say, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, but pleasant.

And since I am recommending things, do get the unabridged audio book of Anna Karenina and enjoy its being read to you. You will keep the many, many characters straight and the sheer pleasure of the performance is a treat not to be missed.