Götterdämmerung!
Kristol Clear will be very short this week, as I’m still recovering from attending the Washington National Opera’s performances last week of Wagner’s The Valkyrie and Siegfried, each over five hours long. Susan, who logged in nineteen hours at all four of the works of the “Ring” cycle, thinks I’m a wimp–though I at least still have my sanity (I think), and am not swooping around the house in a fancy helmet singing “Ho-jo-toho.” (And then she’s offended when I point out that, fine voice though she has, she’s no Nina Stemme!) But I will acknowledge that even half the Cycle was a memorable experience, and Wagner is in his way impressive. I’m even willing to concede that Mark Twain was perhaps unfair when he remarked that Wagner’s music is probably better than it sounds.
Still, it’s hard not to conclude that the “progress” from Mozart to Wagner was a pretty big step in the Decline of the West.
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Trumpadammerung?
Speaking of the Decline of the West, a spate of polls over the last few days has made clear that, 1) Hillary Clinton is an amazingly weak candidate, and 2) there is a real opening for an independent run. (Here’s a discussion of both topics on yesterday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.) We’ll see if a credible candidate steps forward, and we’ll know a lot more on this front within a couple of weeks. That candidate will have to overcome a concerted effort by both the Trump and Clinton camps to discourage him or her from running, as well as combatting a media that is in some cases mindlessly assumes–despite the last year!–that this race is like all other races, and that there’s no room for a significant, let alone winning, independent candidacy. This really is a case, though, of someone’s stepping foward to take an admittedly risky path for the sake of the country….
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A Conversation with Peter Thiel
Speaking of taking risks–this is one of the topics of the most recent video from the Foundation for Constitutional Government, a new Conversation with business founder and investor Peter Thiel. Thiel discusses a host of topics from the global economy to the state of technology and the future of computing and artificial intelligence. In particular, he argues that we have had less technological innovation over the last few decades, and explains one reason is an increasing aversion to risk. I think you’ll find the discussion thought-provoking. And if you’d like to take a look at earlier Conversations, including the first conversation with Thiel, click here.
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1,000th issue!
This week’s TWS is–amazingly–our 1,000th issue. We marked the occasion with pieces by P.J. O’Rourke, “The Art of Aging Gracefully” and by Matt Continetti, “The First Thousand Issues,” and a special contribution by our art director, Philip Chalk, “The Deal with the Art .” The issue also features a special section of some of our favorite Parodies from over the years. We trust you’ll enjoy it–and I think it may become a collector’s item. After all, you only turn 1,000 once! So if you want to order extra copies as keepsakes or gifts, or if (per impossibile!) you’ve let your subscription lapse, you can order as many issues as you’d like at $5.99 each. Just mail a check to:
The Weekly Standard — c/o Jim Swift
1152 15th Street NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20005.
And make the check out to The Weekly Standard, not to Jim Swift!
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Onward!
Bill Kristol
