EUG: Cool Conservative #3

George F. Will’s Web of dependencies may be snapping Gives EUG Hope

Twice-weekly syndicated columnist George F. Will didn’t just land on EUG’s Cool Conservative radar because The Washington Journalism Review named him "Best Writer, Any Subject" or because he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary although both feats are very cool. It was the recent and incredibly timely and poignant Web of dependences may be snapping commentary that caught the eye of this newbie blogger and elephantess.

Will doesn’t hold back the punches. His insightful and witty first paragraph opens with gut-wrenching honesty: The debt-ceiling impasse has, as things generally do, ended, and a post-mortem validates conservatives' portrayal of Barack Obama and their dismay about the dangers and incompetence of liberalism's legacy, the regulatory state. His opening statement is as cool and calculated as Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino.

Will’s commentary gets even better and more telling about midway. He open fires at Obama with literary ease, explaining the natural and grotesque progression of liberalism: during various liberal ascendancies, Will explains, the federal spider has woven a web of dependencies. The political purpose has been to produce growing constituencies of voters disposed to vote Democratic. This disposition, aka the entitlement mentality, is triggered by making the constituencies constantly apprehensive about the security of their status as wards of government.

I don’t know about you but if there was ever a time of apprehensiveness, I’d say it was right about now. Will supports this claim with cool, matter of fact clarity. Regarding the federal regime: Before this debate, who knew that the government sends more than 100 million checks or electronic transfers a month to employees, vendors and — much the largest group — entitlement beneficiaries, including 21 million households receiving food stamps? I sure didn’t.

It doesn’t appear our president has a clue how to fix the mess he has gotten us into. Or, does he? The current administration’s policies and actions are in such direct opposition to what Americans expected that a surge of OMG has literally and figuratively taking this country by storm.

Call it Tea Party Movement, call it fed up, call it “do or die”. Whatever you choose to call it, Will has mapped out a perfectly communicated argument in Web of dependencies may be snapping. His cool, conservative literary energy makes me believe Big Government’s dependency agenda might just be on the way out if we can get it right in 2012. Until then, Go Gridlock!

For this reason, the renowned and comedic journalist George Will is Elephant Under Glass’ Cool Conservative of the week.

Worth watching: Will delivering keynote address at the dinner for the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty http://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-video/george-will-keynotes-friedman-prize-dinner