Sometimes art imitates life. Sometimes life imitates baseball. And sometimes, national politics reflect the insights of the late David Foster Wallace. [See Wallace on the fragility of hub-and-spoke networks in What I’ve Been Reading (June, 2011).]
“STILL TINE: Gentlemen, what the president is articulating is that what we face here is a microcosmic exemplar of the infamous Democratic Triple Bind… Now, speaking in the very most general terms, if the president’s vision dictates the tough choice of cutting certain programs and services, … the American electorate will whinge.
“SEC. TREAS.: And we already have an all-too-good idea of what will happen if we attempt any sort of conventional revenue enhancement…
“SEC. DEF.: Tea-party…
“SEC. TREAS.: And yet the financial communities demand a balanced budget…”
(Infinite Jest, 440-441)
The only unfamiliar note is “whinge,” but I bet you can guess what that means. The rest is eerily familiar. The fictional administration evades disaster by auctioning the naming rights for calendar years, beginning, of course, with the Year of the Whopper. Not much more unrealistic than belief in the confidence fairy.(Infinite Jest, 440-441)
Dr. Lewis C. Sage likes intersections. Since 1991, he has taught Law and Economics, Mathematical Economics, and the Economics of Healthcare. A former Fulbright Fellow (Bulgaria 1995-6), he teaches an interdisciplinary Honors seminar, Enduring Questions, and is studying strategy in the NFL draft with faculty and students in Sports Management and Psychology. E-mail: lsage@bw.edu
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