Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

I recently reread To Kill a Mockingbird after an almost eight year absence. It remains as thoughtful and as powerful as I remembered it to be.

I, however, did discover some new things.

Characters like Atticus, Miss Maudie, and Calpurnia are almost like Randian heroes. They know better. They do better. And they don’t feel the need to crow about it. Mockingbird, however, is more optimistic about them than Ayn Rand is about hers.

The book believes the townfolks recognize the grace and goodness of these characters and respect them for it. They will let people like Atticus do all the heavy lifting but they’ll honor him, perhaps silently and secretly, but they’ll honor him.

I’m not sure that’s how life really works anymore. It is to Harper Lee’s credit that she makes it all work in the book’s world. For a story that is so specific to a time and a place, it seems so very real to me.

Atticus doesn’t say much and explains himself rarely in the novel. Even so, I felt like I knew him. I could see him living down the street from me.

Sadly, I can’t say I know of any man like Atticus or a boy like Jem in my real life. But I feel like I could. As for Scout, well isn’t she every girl who is reading the book for the first time? Isn’t she every adult woman who still loves the book?

Another thing that struck me about the story is how humanistic it is. I’m not referring to the obvious themes of equality and justice but to the greater theme of kindness that trumps everything.

Atticus, many in the town, and perhaps an older Jem all knew the truth about Dill. But they didn’t speak it because there was no harm in the protective lies Dill told. Through the guidance of the author, we, the readers, feel more warmly towards Mrs. Dubois as a character in the book than we would if she was a real person in our neighborhood. I think we even feel for Mayella and Bob Ewell.

Everyone, every character, was granted the grace of his or her humanity.

At the end of the book, when the choice came down to truth or kindness, the correct path seemed clear.

Somehow I had missed all this on previous readings. This deeply sophisticated message was somehow lost amidst the other deep messages. It’s made me think about reordering my own real world priorities.

I wonder what this book will reveal to me in another eight years.

Tags: Books by Ms. SP
2 Comments »

The discussion of Hillary Clinton for VP just will not die. Once upon a time, I stated that she would not get picked as Obama’s running mate but did not explain why.

Now, since people who should know better continue to talk about it, I will.

A political party works on hierarchies. All would be chaos if it didn’t.

The last time a presidential candidate choose the primary’s second placed finisher as his VP was Reagan picking Bush in 1980. And that was a very last minute thing because the original first choice (Ford) fell out of favor so late in the game.

If the primary winner becomes likely to choose the first-runner up, it encourages contenders to stay in the fight for longer than is healthy. They are there not to win but simply to come in second. That means longer attacks, more money spent, and less organizing time for the party in question. Voters would also have a longer exposure to all and potentially develop deep-seeded loyalties and hatreds.

But really more important than all this is that if a politician is able to campaign his/her way into a higher status within the party by tearing down his/her superiors, it would break down the very structure of the party itself. Instead of the parties opposing each other, there would be infighting within each party.

One thing I learned about India from Shashi Tharoor‘s book India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond is that in their parliamentary system, representatives can change party affiliations rather easily. They do it to create a majority, a larger opposition group, because of personal grudges, etc. According to Dr. Tharoor, this makes India’s government and its dozens upon dozens of political parties very unstable.

The prime directive of government is to govern. For us in the United States, that means our two party system must be stably antagonistic. The parties build strength within themselves and oppose the other.

That’s why first-runner-ups can’t be the VP candidate in most cases. It would allow young and inexperienced politicians to give into their ambitious dreams. Any flavor of the moment who happens to catch fire could defy the good of the party and still gain status and prestige.

That’s also why the incumbent VP gets to be the next presidential candidate for his (or perhaps her) party in the next round. The people may vote, but the party’s resources and organization will be pushing for the VP. Hierarchy must be reinforced so members stay in line. It’s about waiting your turn and being the good soldier. If you do, then you may get your own shot at the top. If you don’t play nice, you’ll always be dropped.

For the good of the party, this is the game they play.

Tags: Governance, Politics by Ms. SP
Comments Off

Quick recap:

• early July—I quit my job.
• late August—I decide to start my own company.

Today, I finally have all my government documents together. Ok, I should have known that doing anything through the government would take longer than expected, but I didn’t expect it to be this difficult. And I don’t even have employees or sales tax to worry about.

So my new business is registered with both the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago. I almost have my insurance lined up. After that, it will be time to print up some promotional materials and start soliciting customers.

Ugg … and Whoo!

Tags: Starting a Business by Ms. SP
1 Comment »