The Big Picture and the Closeup

Just because I’ve spent my whole life being “me,” that’s no reason for anyone to believe it, no reason at all. Vigilant, patriotic Americans recognize that all documents are forgeries, all history is made up, and anyone who says otherwise is a patsy or a traitor. Since in a digital age, the technology exists to fake anything, it follows that the technology has been used to fake everything. Watchful Americans recognize this inescapable logic.

All over my dorm I was hearing new things, or hearing old things in a new way. One of the most dramatic discoveries for me was courtesy of a guy a dorm block or two over who played the flute really, really well. I’m guessing I heard the sound of his instrument coming from his window, then traced it to the dorm room it came from, and, if memory serves, invited myself into his room.

For me and most of my fellow-undergrads, there had been an unreflective choice of but one world or two at a time when it might have been possible to become a citizen of many. And now we could only cross those borders under the temporary visa of an open house. Doors we had never even thought were open had closed behind us, years ago. And now we could see them, quite clearly.

Whatever I was thinking, and I swear I don’t know, the result was that my little musical contribution to the theatrical end product was to strip out any musical context for a racial argument largely couched in musical terms.

The ABA’s report said that if a President thinks a law contains unconstitutional language, he shouldn’t sign it. To me, that is Ivory Tower impracticality. Take the 2011 Appropriations Act; if Obama hadn’t signed it, the government would have shut down. Would it have been remotely responsible for Obama to have done that? Such purity would make government impossible. Signing statements are actually a good alternative to such chaos. The President asserts non-aquiescence, government moves on, and the courts can sort the matter out if they need to.