Talk about a bygone question.
I have to admit to a bias here. Aside from a few years (1983-84,
1988-1992, a part of 2008), I’ve always worked for newspapers. Writing and
editing.
Quarrel with this if you will, but I find career newspaper people to be
the most open-minded people I know. (Notice I write career, not careerist). This
is a roundabout way of introducing my topic for this edition of If the Greats
Were With Us Thursday: Alexander Hamilton.
You see, Alexander Hamilton read newspapers. (I know, he is also the
subject of a must-see Broadway show, but this blogpost isn’t about that.) He also founded
the newspaper that I’m currently associated with: the New York Post.
If this great were with us we would have a firmer grasp of just what we
have in the presumptive Democratic president nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Or HRC, as those who’ve been besieged with requests from donations are more
accustomed to seeing her branded.
HRC … Hmmm, that deserves more attention. (Remember, the open mind of
above. Can’t help it.) Doesn’t that bear a resemblance to HMS? A logo (which
equally stresses Rodham and Clinton, not a bad idea given the baggage
associated with her personal choices regarding the Clinton name) that seemed
just right for a coronation. Now, though, with Bernie Sanders making a mess of
things, that’s off. Her Royal Chamelon is on. First campaigning as a small l
liberal centrist, then a progressive, with latest news that her camp says she
will swing back to the center to defeat Donald Trump, the presumptive
Republican presidential nominee. Whatever it takes, HRC.
All of which is to say (the roundabout continues) that if Alexander
Hamilton, also a royalist who wouldn’t sniff at a coronation, were to be alive
today we might see a little more clearly into the motivations of this
particular candidate. I know, I know, this isn’t time to be splitting hairs.
Damn the open mind, just vote straight Democratic! Stop Trump at all costs.
Believe it or not, some folks have had “real” personal encounters in HRC’s
presence. Which goes back to my original point. If you’ve got the time, read this
piece from, yes, a newspaper! of sorts, the London Review of Books, by the
insouciant (and HRC supporting!) Terry Castle.
Next: Running for Your Life: American
Redstart
