National politics has become so boring that I’ll probably go ahead and cancel my NY TIMES subscription. All that ever happens now is Trump delivers another kick to the moribund nation-state, just like the voters requested.
If we had collectively chosen to fight for the nation-state, that would be interesting to observe. But seeing it kicked and kicked to death is boring. We all know how the story ends, so who cares?
I did not know you were supporting The New York Times. So are you just going to read the regional papers instead?
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I used to be a subscriber of ST Louis Post Dispatch but the letters from the readers section was making me clinically depressed. It was all “the global warming hoax”, “abortion murders babies” and “vaccines cause autism.” I’d rather not know that I’m surrounded by all this on all sides.
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I don’t actually read the letters section of the local papers anymore because 1)most letters are stupid and 2)most letters are truncated. If you notice, much of the local paper substitutes or runs pieces from other publications in their national section in lieu of the local writers. Did you read these scripts in response to local stories or was it just national stories?
I had an idea for a site a long time ago that just gathered stories on the 50 most populous cities at the local level. It didn’t work because I had no focus (I had 100 recurring daily searches and it took forever to comb through) and then I got bored because almost every single story was about state and federal budget cuts affecting city decisions.
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The response to local events in STL Post-Dispatch was so racist all of the time that I was getting very high BP readings. It was getting bad for my health. We are a difficult region, difficult.
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How is Donald Trump kicking the nation state to death?
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Let’s look at all of his cabinet appointments, for instance. They are a total joke. Ben Carson explains that he will be great in his new position because he “lived in an inner city and knows that region.” It’s not even meant to be taken seriously. The rest of the appointments are just as hilarious. Nobody expects these appointees to do any actual work.
Then, there are the phone conversations with the leaders of Pakistan and Taiwan. Those are the stand-up comedy routine of the month. Trump is not even trying to be serious about it. It’s all just fun and games.
And did you see the whole ridiculous show with the factory in Indiana and the attendant rally? It’s all just show, entertainment, TV ratings.
Trump is very honestly saying that he doesn’t want to spend much time in the White House. The White House is the symbol of American federal power. And that power is closing up shop. Maybe it makes sense to board up the doors and the windows to make the symbolism complete.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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