Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Clarence Goes to Washington

Ben and I took Clarence to D.C. last week, Ben to work, me to lounge around. Got everything accomplished. The best part of the trip was dinner with two-dozen Ashbrooks now in the capital. One of them introduced himself as a former Ashbrook to a stranger and I corrected him. There are no former good things. Once in it, then you are in it, because we live in deeds and thoughts and feelings, not in time counted. These Ashbrooks live well and nobly for they think and act and feel the best. What a great pleasure to be with them at dinner and before and now. They made fun of my Clarence and I made fun of their virtues, and I count myself happy remembering friends and students. On the drive home the ear bounced between Fats Waller and Rush.

Discussions - 9 Comments

Mr. Schramm - when you say "Rush" are you referring to the Canadian band, or the All-American talker? I presume the latter, but I've been surprised before.

The American talker. Sorry, never heard of the band.

I think you'd like the band:

"...and the trees are all kept equal, by hatchet, axe and saw."

_The Trees_, 1978

I totally agree with you regarding the label of "former Ashbrook Scholar." Once an Ashbrook Scholar, always an Ashbrook scholar! It's a way of life!!! :)

Sorry that I missed you in D.C. HOw many scholar do you have on the West Coast these days? Given Julie's post linking to VD Hanson's article about the decline of CA, the West Coast needs just as many scholars as D.C. Policy may be made in Washington, but as California goes, so goes the country... alas.

Finally, I love the new wheels!

Carolyn

That "band" also had a song called "Tom Sawyer" but not even that could redeem them. I actually had the misfortune of seeing this train-wreck in concert at the LA Coliseum a little more than a decade ago. (The tickets were free and my date was cheap . . . what can I say?) Sometimes even free tickets cost too much.

That vehicle is perfect for those who wish to seem. Those who wish to be, must put aside the alienation, get on with the fascination, the real relation, the underlying theme.

Ren: A point worth considering about being and seeming. Yet, alienation is a big word having to do with not belonging to one's own self, a kind of technical insanity. And it is those who can then say that there is nothing left remarkable beneath the visiting moon. That is not being.

I'm guessing the Hummer purchase was triggered by the effeminate performance of your Acura in the snow a few weeks back? Never again!

Don't tell me you've actually named it after SCOTUS Justice Thomas?

Was the 4WD helpful - or ever the least bit necessary - on the smooth highways between Ashland and DC?

Regardless, I'm sure that Shakespeare, Plato, and Lincoln would approve of such a manly, remarkable vehicle.

As for the permanent status of "being an Ashbrook", I think a similar approach is taken by the Mafia and many cults. I can't wait to see an Ashbrook - maybe in the Obama administration - speak on a Sunday news show in favor of union card-check, identify him/herself as a "former Ashbrook" and then see such a correction right here on this blog.

My third son, who was a Marine, is still a Marine, although he has been out of active duty for about three years. Once a Marine, always a Marine; that is what he and every such veteran says. Is that the kind of "cult" you are talking about, Craig?

I am a bit sensitive to such implications, because I have another son entering that "cult". My fourth son, is graduating from OCS and he will be commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marines this coming Friday. I will be watching him and I would not have been thinking "Oh, like the Mafia and other cults," but now that will probably cross my mind. Craig, sometimes you so confuse good things and bad things, I wonder how you get by in life.

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