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8. Sudden or violent radical change almost always does more
harm than good; patchwork, tinkering, piecemeal reform, a steady
but delicately responsive and constantly readjusted pressure exerted
in a single direction over a long period of time is far less likely to
produce more victims than beneficiaries. But slow reform has little
appeal for those people who in their private lives are zombies. The
prospect of radical change is in some cases the only thing that can
galvanize them into that semblance of life we call political action.
9. I resent the intellectuals who are backing our president in his
games of nuclear chicken with the Russians. They are forcing me to
take notice, when I have more rewarding and useful things to do. I
would be willing to let politicians rip off half my salary to support
their ego trips (as they do), if in return they would otherwise leave
me alone. But now they are threatening my children, all children,
with early death.
No doubt my politics, or lack of them, are at best a species of
peasant cunning laced with libertarianism. No doubt my prejudices
have been formed by my experiences. But there's no other way I'd
have them.
George Stade, Professor ofEnglish at Columbia University, is the author
of the novel,
Confessions of a Lady-killer
(W. W.
Norton, 1979), among
other works.
