Saturday, February 09, 2008

John Boehner (my congressional representative)

on what it means to be a good American

Here's what Representative Boehner had to say last week about the tax refund:
The sooner we get this relief in the hands of the American people, the sooner they can begin to do their job of being good consumers.
When America was founded, Americans believed that our job was to take advantage of opportunities, to work hard, to own land and to freely pursue a vision of "the good life" according to our consciences.

Today, we can sum up American virtue in two words: "good consumers."

Wow.

8 comments:

SUSAN said...

ugh...We intend to save our refund.

Susan

Rick said...

I feel so allowance-d.

Dancingirl said...

Ugh.

(Always wondered what my job was! :o)

David Blakeslee said...

Wow, I didn't realize that Boehner was your rep. That's one lousy congressman you got there...

Drew Tatusko said...

Students in my senior integrative capping course at the College have read Baudrillard's The Consumer Society originally written in 1970. They have also learned about DeBord and Marcuse and the French Situationists. We read Kolakowski's essay The Death of Utopia and also watched the brilliant Frontline piece The Merchants of Cool. This week we are going to discuss the concept of Dystopia before reading A Brave New World and the final section of Simone Weil's The Need for Roots.

I told them we were going to deconstruct the world and find a way to rebuild it ourselves. It's a curriculum that is new for me but so far so good. This paycheck from W *again* comes at a perfect time for this class. What an effective tool to tell them that what we are reading is not in vain. They might all be Marxists by the time they complete the course!

Gregster said...

How ironic that John Boehner was originally elected by wholeheartedly endorsing term limits. He preached against the entrenched establishment in Washington like Jonathan Edwards preached about "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". Now he has become the poster boy for term limits. Throw the bums out!

Unknown said...

Drew, I just read your terrific blog post on this topic. Thanks for your thoughts here and the book list. Wish I had you for a teacher.

Drew Tatusko said...

A radio host in New Jersey on NJ101.5 has a campaign each year called G.R.I.P. as in get a grip. It means Get Rid of Incumbent Politicians. If they have no incentive to stick around, they also have no incentive to corrupt the system for their own ends.

Julie, I will tell you if you would want to be in my class after I see the evaluations from it later this summer ;-)