"America is being governed by a country-club bore, backed up by other members of the club"
Michael Goldfarb is the host of the First Rough Draft of History podcast and says he's seen enough of country club life to know that we're watching the country clubization of the United States government. Judging by the number of people and variety of political persuasions of those who sent me this link, Goldfarb's premise scored points. 
After all, if you've seen the club world in any form, it's not a leap to consider Goldfarb's premise in this New York Times op-ed:
This country club mind-set is not unique to the United States. All over the world there are clubs with people whose wealth (it doesn’t have to be extreme wealth) buys them extra access to government. Indeed, their businesses require that access to make sure they get government contracts to build office buildings and hospitals or simply pave a local road.
When the country-club class gets directly involved in politics, a country is on a shortcut to disaster.
Equating President Trump to the guy at the club bar with an opinion on about everything, here's a view of the golf club world that could do lasting damage to the game's image.
Those who want to resist Mr. Trump should accept that America is being governed by a country-club bore, backed up by other members of the club — a class that doesn’t worry that it will suffer if he makes a mistake.
Sunday, January 21, 2018 at 01:06 AM
Reader Comments (31)
Pick your poison because both kill good stewardship of government.
You've posted this now what, 10, 12 times?
As you know, in the land of the free, Harry is entitled to sell stock, and last I looked, the laws allow him to sell that stock for a profit. I own no Callaway stock. And I do not belong to a country club. If I did, would that make me guilty of what exactly? This has what to do with the premise of the op-ed above?
Thou I won't mention by name,it's in Oakbrook,Il.
These guys are rain makers.
If I was only rich.
I can only guess that your list of “stupid, unaccomplished shitheads” who have run my country might include Barack Obama who provided a path to affordable health care for millions of previously uninsured Americans, and Lyndon Johnson who tried to safeguard civil and voting rights guaranteed by the US Constitution and its amendments for all citizens, and Abraham Lincoln who tried to erase the stain of forced servitude from our national conscience, and Thomas Jefferson who, as president, dismantled some of the earliest federal attempts to limit free speech and suppress the rights of legal immigrants.
Here is a lecture you must have missed while counting your beans. The American ideal has, from its earliest origins in Plymouth, been chiefly about ensuring the voice of the persecuted is heard and considered equally next to that of the established and enfranchised and that the rights of citizens relegated to the dispossessed and oppressed classes are judged identical in the eyes of the law.
Whether it be the effort to end the tyranny of taxation without representation, or to atone for the genocidal intent acted out along the Trail of Tears or in the Japanese concentration camps, or, in 1868, to remind future generations that rights of citizenship shall neither be denied nor deprived but indeed protected and safeguarded at all costs, or the 1935 Wagner Act….. (for additional elements see your college US History 101 lecture notes) the voice of American democracy demands that the whispers of the impoverished minority, that the petitions of the less fortunate be forged into legislation that helps lift both the spirit and the condition with and in which they live.
I am a member of the privileged and protected class of middle-aged white males who have achieved and will never have to worry or want for anything save good health. Just as it was the duty and obligation that compelled the greatest generation to fight fascism and defend liberty, it is the duty of this and all generations of Americans insure that that liberty is provided, protected, and accessible for all, not just for those who have Skin in the game.
Trump has already shown the world what America values are.
Add to that the need for many Americans to have super smooth golf courses, friendly bunkers, golf carts and distance aids of all sorts, so yes we get to understand the depth of American values - but we have to ask "Jim, this is life but not as we know it" - then that same statement is also applicable when related to golf - your country clubs just do not play golf, but American Golf.
Re Trump, we respect the Office not necessary the individual, just like we respect The Royal & Ancient Game of Golf and not the way some have bastardised the game by making it easy to cheat (by that I mean obtain low scores by using technology/aids instead of generated from within the player).
Trump has shown what his values are, not necessarily American values. The majority of Americans are not interested in being painted with the increasingly narrow brush strokes of the Trump admin.
Equally, do not attempt to assume anything about how I play golf. You do not know me, have never met me, do not know where and when I play, and have never played even a stroke with me on a golf course. Further do not guess at my knowledge of the game's history and traditions. I have read, many times with interest, your posts for many years on this site and another. On one hand I am respectful of the traditions of the game you attempt to uphold, and, on the other, confounded at your ignorance as to how many (millions) in America play the game that reflect many of those values you extol.
Days a week is the day we are all screwed, but particularly the poor.
Trust me, I'm perfectly content to live in the construct of a nation you envision. As I've said, I've made my way to the upper strata of the socio-economic food chain. My "skin" is made and in the game. Just don't call it a republican democracy, and don't purport to embrace the values of liberty, equality, etc for all. It's disingenuous at the least and more so a lie.
The ignorance is with those who use carts, use distance aids, use technology to cheat their way to a lower scores. Instead of bracing golf head on and testing themselves against the course, too many are seeking the easy approach, worst still the level of course design and preparation of golf course are so player friendly that they take golf out of the game.
I have no issues with those who want to play an alternative game - I just ask that they do the honourable thing and call it by a different name, for it is not golf - well not as we know it!
I have many American friends who honour the traditional game and show way more passion than I in all aspects of The Royal & Ancient Game of Golf. As for millions, yes I am ignorant of the actual numbers.
Nice one Short Knocker!!!!!!!!
Compounding economic success, sanity returning to immigration, and our foreign enemies put on notice, if not, in retreat.
If Trump created the Rx that cured cancer, the Goldfarb's of the world would comment on the gaudy color of the pill. This is what a swamp-drain looks like.
#winning.