There’s a blush for thought, and a blush for nought, And a blush for just begun it. I fall into the “blush for nought” category. If I have any genius (debased with cheap pot metal if I do), it’s a genius for not being one. That is, I try to see things the way ordinary people do. And being quite ordinary, that’s not hard for me. What I do – or try to do – is bring some humor to the often grim subjects I cover. And there’s no genius to that, either. I learned it from having a big Irish family (20-plus first cousins) whose only mode of communication was joking and teasing. That’s how we expressed love. That’s how we expressed anger. That’s even how we expressed grief. My grandfather, J. J. O’Rourke, detested the Kennedy family, as many Irish businessmen did. He had a particular loathing for the shady and pushy patriarch, John Kennedy’s father, Joe. My grandfather died at age 83, two days
not Definition 1 (“purgation, esp. of the bowels”). Most economics professors don’t really teach economics because they are so fascinated by the mathematics of production and consumption – the graphs, charts, and formulae. (After all, that’s how they got their PhDs.) They lose sight of the fact that economics is fundamentally moral philosophy. The first thing an Economics 101 course should teach is that economic freedom is inseparable from human freedom. A government with no respect for economic liberty comes under suspicion of having no respect for liberty at all. Re: Love, Death, and Money PJ is the best... Really, I have most or all of this man’s books on various topics. Unalloyed genius. Am so grateful for the appearance
of American Consequences and a new chance to read his latest stuff as well as to revisit some of his earlier materials like Eat the Rich. Thank you, thank you, thank you. – StanW. P.J. O’Rourke Reply: Wow, Stan, I’m blushing! And to get really random on you, that brings to mind a favorite John Keats poem, “Oh Blush Not So!” There’s a blush for want, and a blush for shan’t, And a blush for having done it;
before JFK was elected, and his funeral was held the day after. I was only 13 and in tears at the service. My grandfather’s sister, my great aunt Helen, took me asides and said, “Don’t cry, it would have killed your granddad anyway to see a Kennedy in the White House.” P.J., Just when I think you can’t get any more fun to read, along comes July 5.
CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE ARCHIVE OF PAST ISSUES.
Thank you! Yup, in 1970, I graduated horribly boring ol’ high school a semester
American Consequences
15
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online