A POSTURING POMPOUS ASS

Michael Bloomberg is a little man with a very big ego and a penchant for plastering his name all over anything he gets ahold of; so for example, the venerable magazine Business Week became Bloomberg Business Week. He overturned term limits to get a third term as Mayor of New York City, because, well, he’s special and shouldn’t be bound by rules meant for lesser men. The problem is, like most egomaniacs, he is nowhere near as consequential as he thinks he is, and his pontifications do not carry the weight of infallibility. 

Witness his unbelievably stupid and inconsiderate decision to proceed with the New York City Marathon, thereby diverting resources from places like Staten Island, which are in desperate need of things like the generators set aside for the marathon, or the police, or for that matter, the basic necessities of life. It never would occur to him how callous his decision was, because in his mind these places are backwaters, outside of the media bubble he lives in. His notion of the city is a media construction, not the reality on the ground. Early on he raised property taxes by nearly 20%, and when the little people complained he basically said that living in New York carries a premium and you just have to pay more for the privilege of living here. 

It’s not that he’s been a bad mayor. Indeed one could even argue that he’s even been a relatively good one, but he certainly is not a great one.  He did find time to weigh in on the presidential election, citing global warming as a major factor in his decision. But you’d be hard pressed to find anyone saying anything about climate in this election cycle. He further pronounced that the storm that hit the region was due to such climate change, just like green entrepreneur Al Gore; never mind that there is not a shred of scientific evidence to support that assertion. This is not to deny climate change, but rather the claim that this storm was attributable to it, when every meteorologist says otherwise. But the facts don’t matter. Bloomberg has spoken. 

But he is not as exceptional as he thinks he is.  This is a city full of other people with the same attitude- that their wealth is proof they possess some special grace. But they confuse an ability to make a lot of money with an inherent mastery of every other subject, and assume their pronouncements are rooted in a knowledge that they do not in fact possess. Many people do not perceive themselves as others see them, but the greater the disparity, the more they play the fool. But this is usually lost on them because they surround themselves with people who confirm their self-image. A man like Bloomberg is too full of himself to perceive his limitations, and the more conceit he brings to his pronouncements, the more he appears like an emperor with no clothes. 

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THE STORM HAS PASSED

The terrible storm has passed and the damage is extensive. Millions are without power, and it may take several days before it is restored. In our part of the city things are fine, while nearby areas have severe problems. It is just a reminder of how much life can often boil down to chance, luck, providence, or whatever you want to call it, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time when disaster strikes. A tree falls and kills people who happen to be in a particular spot at the wrong time. Conversely those more fortunate have been at the right place at the right time, but given the way things actually unfold, they should approach this life with humility. For in truth, much of what happens is beyond our control. 

Natural disasters of this magnitude are unusual in New York; our disasters are usually more of the man-made kind. That makes the site of the streets in downtown Manhattan flooding and an actual river of water flowing through the tunnels all the more incredible. We’ve never seen anything like this before. It has been nearly two hundred years since something comparable happened. We have only been settled where we are for a few hundred years, and most places in this country far less. Thus our longer term experience is very limited. People who sometimes view us critically in places like Europe just don’t realize the extent to which the forces of nature are so much more powerful in America. The temperatures are far more extreme, as is the weather, with hurricanes, tornados, flooding, wildfires, etc. happening frequently. Some places are unusually wet while other places are extremely dry. For there is still a wildness here. In some parts of the country predatory animals still roam, while other wild animals are frequent visitors, even in urban or suburban areas. You can get as close to nature as you want, although up close we often find it less than idyllic. 

The notion that we are masters of this planet is laughable, given how powerless we are before the forces of nature. For all the impact we think we have had on the planet it is miniscule alongside of what occurs naturally. When people abandon spaces it is striking how quickly nature takes over again. The unexpected often happens. In the days leading up to this storm we knew it was coming, but prior to that no one could have foreseen it. All predictions of any kind are only viable for a very short term. Beyond that the future is unknowable. 

We often lament our misfortunes, while forgetting all the times we were lucky enough to avoid the worst. Life by and large has been good enough to instill a sense of comfort, to the point where many of have forgotten the phrase “count your blessings.”  Bad things happen to someone else, somewhere else. Some have even come to believe that they are entitled to be happy all the time, forgetting that life often consists of misery, suffering, and pain. Our ancestors knew this because they lived during times when life was a daily struggle for existence.  They were thankful if they simply managed to get through a day no worse off than before. In modern times we usually have modern problems, which are trivial alongside the havoc the forces of nature can cause. It takes a storm like this to remind us how insignificant we really are in the face of natural forces, which instill in us a sense of stunning awe, and if we are wise, humility. 

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A VERY SPECIAL CAT

There are millions of feral cats who live short, miserable lives. My cat Caesar, who just passed away, was far more fortunate in that he lived as good a life as any creature ever had. That doesn’t assuage the sense of loss, but does provide some perspective on how painful life always is for most living things. When we take in pets we free them from the cruelties of nature and in the process they become something more. A bond is formed. We give them names and they adapt to us as we adapt to them. Then we come to realize that this is, in some sense, a sentient individual with a distinct personality. 

Caesar was a source of endless wonder and joy to me. He had perfectly refined features, and even at the end the vet remarked how handsome he was. He was a very loving cat, unusually good-natured, gentle, and provided endless fascination in the way he interacted with the world around him. He became an intimate part of our lives, so that with his passing there is a deep sense of loss. 

This is something that anyone who has pets inevitably has to deal with, and our tendency is to feel sorry for them. But if we have treated them well, the sorrow is all ours, for death and loss is mainly painful for the living. Of course I will miss Caesar, but inevitable loss is a part of life that we have to deal with. That is far outweighed by the precious, immeasurably rich experience of having shared a part of my life with him. 

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WINNING AND LOSING STATES

No matter how this election turns out, Republicans have their work cut out for them as far as the national electoral map goes. Looking at that map it is clear the “red” states are retreating. I hate the terminology of “red” and “blue” states, especially since red is a color long associated with the left, that has improbably been glued onto Republicans.  This was foisted on us by NBC news some years back and I really hope we can get rid of this idiotic terminology. In any case the reality is that Reagan could get re-elected winning 49 states in a landslide. It is hard to see how that could be done today. 

When you get to the point where Virginia becomes a swing state, along with some western states, it is clear the party has a problem. In the not so distant past California was a swing state, even leaning slightly Republican, and even New York was competitive. Now both, with a huge number of electoral votes, aren’t even being contested. This has a lot to do with the miserable, dysfunctional state of the party in both states, for demography alone cannot explain such a precipitous decline. In addition a whole region of the country is basically written off. If Mitt Romney can’t carry a New England or even a northeastern state it is hard to see how any Republican can. The result is that the electoral vote math for Romney is very limited, to the point where nearly everything hinges on carrying Ohio. There is some irony here with regard to liberal complaints about the electoral college, for it is quite possible that he could win the popular vote and still lose the election. 

Whatever happens in this election, the national Republican party has to make a serious effort to reorganize and resuscitate itself in order to again be competitive across the board.  The usual mantra on this is being more “inclusive,” which is symbolic nonsense. What has to be done is to win more minds and hearts on matters that concern people, whatever their background, while building a viable organization. The latter is currently essentially ad hoc, put together from campaign to campaign rather than through any kind of sustained effort. 

The course of a national election is still going to be determined by the overall state of things, or at least the perceived state of things, If you don’t even try to make the case in several states the odds for winning only get worse and worse. A national election should not hinge on a particular state. We need nationally competitive parties again. 

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EUROPEANS AND AMERICANS

My first reaction upon returning home from a trip to Europe, (in this case Spain) is one of embarrassment. I can’t imagine what people think when they arrive here from abroad to a dismal airport, and then are transported along really terrible roads to their destination, at least here in New York.  The contrast with the immaculate roads and traffic system over there is stark, and even gassing up (albeit at high prices) is far more pleasant at extremely well maintained facilities. There is absolutely none of the all too familiar grunge we have here, apart from the unfortunate presence of graffiti.  That only exists because it is tolerated, as Spain still appears to be reacting to the Franco years and rigid Catholicism, and so have gone to the opposite extreme. 

Things have definitely changed. As my wife noted, decades ago there was virtually nothing around the coast of Marbella. Now the entire Costa del Sol is one long continuous chain of resort development, populated mostly by tourists from more northern European countries, especially Great Britain. But nowadays it is impossible to tell where anyone is from until they open their mouths, because they all are dressed like sloppy Americans. Often that consists of t-shirts with American subjects they might not even understand, jeans, and sneakers (or godawful flip-flops). So if you’re planning on traveling abroad and don’t want to stand out as an American, the good news is that they all look like Americans these days. It has become a generic “western” look. Good taste is another matter. 

Equally ubiquitous is the unfortunate presence of American popular culture on radio and tv. Now I love my country and I’m proud of it, but not of the crap that Hollywood puts out, which seldom reflects the true reality of American life. The radio is full of American music, or if not, Europop derivatives of it. The end result is that it is difficult to find any true local culture these days, and that is a sad thing. When traveling we want things to be quaint, with plenty of local color.    But people, given a choice in most places want to be “modern.”  Unfortunately the price of that is too often a loss of cultural authenticity. That is compounded by the idea of “Europe” itself. 

For Europe as it exists today is largely an American creation. American forces saved it from the Nazis and then the Communist tyranny, and continue to provide it with a defensive shield and one of the longest stretches of peace it has ever known. But after a prior century of horrible wars people have lost faith in everything and live only in the present, to the detriment of future generations. They can, and should be more than second-rate Americans, but that will only happen if a sense of nationhood is restored. They unfortunately are infected with the same self-loathing and obsession with “racism’ as the American left, and similarly denigrate their own past and institutions. But the truth is that they are the source of a truly great civilization and the foundation of our own. Our ties run deep and we share a common destiny.

On that basis I would favor even closer ties than we have now. It is kind of annoying when arriving there to see one line for EU members while we get lumped in with third world peoples. I think we ought to have a reciprocal special status for say, NATO members, in terms of movement, travel and trade. If this is categorized as  a “Eurocentric” view I’ll accept that and be damned proud of it. 

A few notes on Spain, specifically, and Andalusia, where I spent my time. Notwithstanding poor economic conditions the country is perfectly safe to visit. Whatever crime there is is petty thievery that is easily avoided with common sense. Driving to the major cities and sites is pleasant, outside of the congested coast. Gas prices were not as bad as I expected, considering what we’re paying here today, running about $6 per gallon. When you drive inland there is little traffic and wide open spaces similar to driving out west. Entering a major city is easy because all you need to do is take the main boulevard into town and follow the signs for the city center, where most of what you want to see is usually located anyway, and then park in an underground garage, which is easily found. The weather is still like summer, warm enough to swim, and there is still daylight until 8 o’clock. Castles, cathedrals, and gardens are everywhere, and a pleasure to visit. If you want to visit the Alhambra in Granada you need to get tickets months in advance, otherwise the only way you can get in is through tour operators, who scoop up most of the available tickets. It is worth a visit, but I think the equivalent site in Cordoba is more impressive, as is the cathedral in Seville. The sites are still attractive, and to the extent you can avoid other tourists, they can still magically transport you back to an earlier time. 

ACTS OF WAR

The attacks on our embassies around the world are clearly being orchestrated. How did Al Qaeda flags suddenly appear all over the world at the same time? Contrary to what the administration is saying, this is not just about an obscure, anti-Islamic film. It is a coordinated assault on the United States.  It is now apparent that the Libyans provided advance warning three days before American personnel were murdered, but these warning were ignored. The Libyans themselves are more pro-American than just about anyone in the Muslim world. But there, as elsewhere, there is a Salafist fundamentalist Islamic movement that demands a literal interpretation of the Koran and wants to take things back to the 7th century. Now these guys can scream and demonstrate against presumed offenses, but even they do not bring RPG’s to a demonstration. The goofy “film,” or at least the idea of it, no doubt did enrage many Muslims, but  all of this was just an added bonus for Al Qaeda, which organized these attacks beforehand, specifically for September 11 as part of its continuing war on the United States and the west. 

The administration’s apology tour and outreach to Muslims policy is in shambles. The President thought all he had to do was simply make a speech in Cairo and his charisma would move the masses, but the end result is that he is actually less popular in the Islamic world today than George Bush was. But this fumbling has been obscured by the media’s dutiful diversion of attention from the actual substance of things that are happening to focus on an alleged  Romney mistake in  criticizing the administration. They were actually recorded coordinating questions to Romney, which he, unlike the President, actually answered. Any remaining credibility these partisan hacks may have had has now all but vanished.  On top of this we have the left-wing response, which right away is seeking to curtail our rights of free expression in order to accommodate external foes, rather than to defend our way of life. The government has hauled in the creator of the video for questioning, allegedly on other grounds, while at least Google has courageously refused to bow to pressure to take it off of You Tube.  When will they understand that, to paraphrase Pericles, we may not be interested in the rest of the world, but the rest of the world is interested in us?

These brazen assaults are a result of the government’s desire to be loved, which  betrays a fatal weakness. For it has stood Machiavelli on his head by choosing to be loved rather than feared, and has wound up with neither. It will not use any terminology regarding the “War on Terror.” But the security breach at our consulate was an act of war, as are the continuing attacks on our embassies and should be responded to accordingly.  Al Qaeda is targeting American diplomats, and Americans, around the world, and we should be responding to them as we would to an attack on the homeland. But respect for the US has fallen to such an extent that we can’t even get some countries to allow our Marines in  to defend our embassies, and instead are withdrawing personnel. Is it even safe for us to be traveling now? It is time to dispense with the illusion of being loved and instill some real fear in our enemies, for that is the only way to gain any respect.  

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NOT-S0-HIDDEN INFLATION

The Federal Reserve has now compounded the inflationary scenario discussed previously by printing yet more money, in order to buy $40 billion of mortgage securities per month. This was a political decision, not an economically sound one. As a result our credit rating is starting to be downgraded and the price of commodities- everything from gasoline to food, is increasing. But while prices are already rising the increase is nothing compared to what is to come. 

At the same time interest rates are being driven down to nothing by the government printing press, so savers are actually losing money. The illusion of economic improvement in recent stock market gains is misleading in that it just means more money is going into stocks because interest rates have such a low yield, even though there is significantly greater risk. At this point the “medicine” of the “Quantitative Easing” is becoming poison that will produce galloping inflation down the road unless there is a sharp turn in policy, and even then the challenges are daunting. 

The federal government is currently taking in about $2 trillion in taxes, while spending over $3 trillion a year. This deficit gets added to an ever-increasing debt load that presumably is going to be paid by future generations. Numbers like a trillion are beyond comprehension, but anyone can understand the simple math of the consequences of spending three of something when you only have two. The rising  debt is held by the public and foreign countries like China, which goes along because it finances the export of goods to this and other countries, enabling its economy to continue growing.  

But given that the government is now effectively cheating by debasing the value of the currency, sooner or later lenders will stop lending. However, long before that, interest rates will rise to levels not seen since the 1970s, as lenders must protect themselves against the shrinking value of the currency. Worse, these rates are not being factored in to government projections so that future debt will be larger than anticipated. When there is a 300% increase in the money supply there are bound to be consequences. As rates rise the cost of borrowing will also increase, with disastrous results. First, the interest cost to the government to cover all this debt will become unbearable, given that much of it is short-term borrowing that constantly has to be refinanced at the rate prevailing at the time.  Second, the real estate market will crash even further as the cost of mortgage interest becomes impossibly high. Third, foreign investors will pull their money out as the value of the dollar plummets in relation to other currencies. 

The only way the government will be able to sustain itself is by printing more money, so that the money it pays back is worth less than the funds it borrowed. But if the dollar is worth less, it can only mean that things will cost more and more and incomes will not keep pace with the surging rate of inflation. I’m not even talking about a hyper-inflationary doomsday scenario or total collapse, for even an increase of interest rates to a moderate level of say, 7% will leave the government in dire straits, in terms of maintaining payments of the debt load it is carrying forward.  Furthermore, none of this includes additional state and local debt. On a personal level, the only way you can stay ahead of this turmoil with your own funds is by putting them in appreciable assets that provide an inflation hedge.

These things will become obvious by next year, and will accelerate in the years ahead, unless there is a drastic change of direction in Washington. It will require an iron political will to correct, as the necessary steps are bound to be painful and highly unpopular, across the board. It will require deep cuts in spending, reform of entitlement programs, and revision of the tax code. There may be a steep political price paid for acting responsibly, at least in the short term. But that is the only way to save this country, and for that matter the world, at this point. Hopefully we will have the leadership and political courage to ameliorate this situation while it is still possible.  Think about this when you vote in November. 

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HIDDEN INFLATION

Inflation is inevitable given that the government has been printing huge amounts of money while borrowing more in order to continue spending money it doesn’t have.  The value of the dollar will be further eroded, with the day of reckoning postponed only because things are worse elsewhere at the moment.   Everyone knows this, but what may be less apparent is that the effects of inflation are already here, it just is not immediately obvious.  It is masked by  government-created economic distortions, structurally built-in, which are expanding like a silent bubble on its way to bursting. While evident in high gas prices and food prices that are about to take off, it is deeper and more sinister. It is like a mirror opposite of inflation that has already devalued money, and we are already paying for it. 

When there is inflation money is worth less. That is elementary. But although there is little apparent inflation at the moment somehow money is still worth less. One way to look at it is what you can earn on your dollars. The government is deliberately depressing interest rates to ridiculously low levels by continuing to print money. This enables it to continue borrowing at bargain rates, which depresses interest rates across the board. As a result the thrifty are penalized with miniscule returns on their savings. When a dollar earns a paltry 1% return what is it really worth? Those who save are already paying the price of hidden inflation by losing what they would otherwise earn were it not for government-induced distortions. This leaves savers, senior citizens, and retirement or pension funds in the hole because the anticipated returns are not being realized. That leaves no alternative to taking on riskier investments to try and earn a decent return. The net result is the same as inflation, where phantom higher returns are earned by money that is worth less and less. 

These policies are breathtakingly irresponsible. Yet they are deliberate, resulting in artificially low interest rates to facilitate voracious government borrowing. But sooner or later lenders will stop lending. The President thinks he can reduce the deficit by taxing rich people more. The problem is that there aren’t enough rich people to make a serious dent in the debt, Even if their taxes were completely devoted to it and notwithstanding the more likely scenario that it would simply be spent on more “unmet needs,” there are many ways the very affluent can avoid taxes. They can simply move, like the wealthy are doing in large numbers in France due to the socialist government’s attempt to raise their taxes to a 75% level. The net result of that is that there will be even less money coming in, and the not-so-rich are left to pay for it and the problems only become worse. 

The Republicans, on the other hand, want to reduce the debt by promoting growth instead, i.e. creating new wealth, instead of depleting existing wealth. If the economy were growing at a healthy pace it would increase tax revenues. In order to stimulate growth there has to be enough incentive to invest and take risks. High taxes, such as those in France only result in a capital strike, for no one will invest if their earnings are to be taxed away. Then governments try to adjust by providing tax incentives, rebates, etc. to get business to invest, which then results only in crony capitalism and economic distortions. 

But whoever wins the election will face daunting challenges due to decades of mismanagement. They may also subsequently pay a political price if policies to truly extricate us from this situation are pursued, for there are no easy solutions. Let us hope we get leaders who will finally behave responsibly, for the alternative is an almost certain collapse. 

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WHITHER THE DEMOCRATS?

It is disturbing when one of a country’s major parties takes a radical turn, but that is what we are seeing with the Democrats this year, particularly in terms of their platform. It appears that they are bent on self-destruction, as they have committed to positions far outside of the mainstream. The party is now indistinguishable from European socialists, and has truly become a Social Democratic party. Moderate Democrats have been driven away by the “progressives,” so it is unsurprising that Republicans have reached near parity in party identification, an area where Democrats once had a commanding advantage. They produced a platform  in keeping with statements in a film shown at the convention- that “The Government is the Only Thing We All Belong To.” Most of us would answer that with a resounding NO!  The government belongs to US. 

This kind of collectivist thinking permeates the party’s platform and the mentality of the activist left, which basically is now in control. Apart from this, the platform endorses gay marriage, late term abortion, and until pressed, left out any mention of God for the first time, as well as the status of Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol. I am not taking a position on these question here, but simply noting that they are out of step with the sentiments of a substantial portion of the population. It may be true that nobody pays attention to the platform, but it had clear consequences for the party’s presentation of itself. 

In front of the country there was a voice vote taken three times on restoring God to the platform, and each time the yeas and nays were about the same, only salvaged by a chairman who ignored the lack of a 2/3 vote and declared the affirmative anyway. In a country where upwards of 80% of the population believes in God it only shows how far out of touch they are. You don’t have to be a believer to see the folly in this. 

Then there was the array of speakers, with the old breathy-voiced standbys Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, as well as the blabbermouth Wasserman-Schultz, and the truly nutty Elizabeth Warren. They were joined by various starlets, and incredibly, a woman whose claim to fame is a demand that the rest of us pay for her birth control pills, who was given a prime time speaking slot. The convention came off looking like a conservative caricature of the party, and like the handiwork of someone who wanted to make the Democrats look bad. The Republicans could do worse than simply replay parts of this convention in their advertising. True some of this was offset by the relatively innocuous remarks of Presidents Clinton and Obama, whose speeches reflected very little of the underlying radicalism of the convention. 

The real question is how this is going to play in Ohio.  Why Ohio? Because that is where the election will be decided this year. My guess is that little of this sits well with people in there, but the question is whether they will be aware of it or not, since most people weren’t watching.  Whoever carries Ohio will win. Romney could run the board of toss-up states and still lose if he doesn’t carry Ohio. Similarly, Obama’s re-election prospects dim without Ohio. So on election night when you see who carries Ohio you will know who won the election. 

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EGOMANIA AND POWER

Today’s New York Times, of all places, contains an article about President Obama’s unbridled ego, his hypercompetitiveness, his high opinion of himself, and his need to dominate, even in relatively trivial pursuits. However, “he tends to overestimate his capabilities,” to put it mildly. For a long time I have felt that egomania is one of the most significant negative features of our time, an idea that will be developed in detail subsequently. 

Everything kids are taught and fed today is designed to build and reinforce “self-esteem.”  As a result, we have a population that views itself as the center of the universe, has a sense of entitlement, and often engages in obnoxious behavior as a result. Everything revives around “me,” and “I” is a term you read and hear ad nauseum. The world is viewed entirely through the prism of the self, so that everything is perceived in terms of how it affects or relates to that individual, which determines its place in the hierarchy of values. Everything is perceived in terms of how it relates to "me." So, for example, in the case of an actor who was informed of the death of a friend, his only reaction was to say that he wasn’t feeling so good either, going on to describe a slight pain he had. But if everyone, or at least many people, go around thinking “I am special,” we wind up with things like aggressive driving and road rage when they are not given their proper due behind the wheel. 

But the more severe the pathology, the more one is likely to fall off a cliff at some point, as limitations become unavoidable, and it becomes clear that one is not so special after all. When this recognition is achieved, it essentlally determines how mature a person is, and the best characters learn it sooner rather than later. But a few people go through life never having to deal with a larger reality, as everything they encounter seems to reinforce their special status and confirm their self-perception. It never registers that their situation has come about largely due to luck and they continue to perceive themselves as possessed with some special grace. The result is the kind of megalomania we see with stars and their entourages, or Presidents with their worshipful aides. 

However, under such conditions contradictory information tends to get filtered out, reinforcing a sense of invincibility increasingly divorced from reality. That appears to be what is happening in the White House today, with a President who believes he is always right, the best at everything, and inherently great. He was anointed with a Nobel Prize before he even did anything. He was chosen as “the One” by millions around the world. He was validated by a fawning media, which only confirmed the inevitability of his rise. Thus it is unsurprising that he has an overabundance of confidence. 

There are, however, “facts on the ground.” He is often described as “eloquent,” which only indicates how far our standards of rhetorical quality have fallen. For he is a mediocre man in a time of mediocrity. His idea of the Presidency is all appearance and ceremony rather than substance, so, for example, he left it to the congress to fashion his unpopular health plan, while he has spent his time almost continuously campaigning with agreeable crowds. When there is such a dynamic in Hollywood it is frivolous, but when coupled with real power in government it is frightening. 

Due to the fact that his eminence is constantly reinforced, anything that stands in the way is heretical. Thus, his greatness should not be limited by inconvenient nuisance things like the the Supreme Court and congress, or an obsolete document like the constitution. Given this, we may be headed for catastrophe if he wins the election- not because he would be President again, but because he would feel vindicated to the point where he would feel entitled to rule by decree. He would issue proclamations and presidential orders contravening the other branches of government and possibly precipitate a constitutional crisis, resulting in impeachment proceedings. Then while our government is self-destructing the world would spin out of control; all because we have a man who is not as great as he thinks he is, but there is no one who can convince him of that fact. That is the truth of our situation today, which can only be rectified, perhaps, by the electorate. 

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