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James Touza's avatar

Really good summary of the present state of things. I’ve been thinking about these problems, and don’t see an easy way out of them. I think the most telling statement in the NY’er was near the end where it’s said the Biden-Sullivan problem is that they are in a war they can’t afford to win or lose. Incredibly, they’re invested in keeping Putin in power, Russia a cohesive state. As you say, still pretending the world is still in 1965.

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Richard Careaga's avatar

Meritocracy? Of course we are. The Best and the Brightest are ever busy rationalizing to order for whatever appears politically expedient over the next election cycle. This is only possible with the right kind of people. People like, frankly, us. People who know their places in the baboon troop, defer to their betters, connive with their peers, and harass the lower ranking. Recruitment and promotion is too important to be left to objective criteria. See where the Chinese civil service exam system worked out. Much better is the outsourced vetting system that distributes fitness judgments over a loose network. We’re America, so we’ve scaled the Eton/Harrow Oxbridge model to continental scale.

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