From a reader:

Jonah,

Glad you’re back from the annual cross-country jaunt.  Hope the backside has recovered nicely from those long hours in the car (though I’m sure the couch is none too happy.)  Also, condolences on the goatee-shaving misadventure.  I sport one of simliar vintage to yours, and I’m not sure I would recognize my face if I did the same thing.

Now, on to the real topic.  I thought I might add some sauce to your noodling of DC vs the rest of the world.  I liked the post and the thoughts you were considering in it.  One thing that stood out to me about how DC seems different than the rest of the world is that there are primarily just TWO sides in DC, and you’re generally on one or the other.  That means that when you’ve got to call up someone for a favor, chances are fairly good that you’ve vehemently opposed them (directly or indirectly) at some point in the past. 

In the rest of the world there are so many “sides” to be on.  If your former college rival calls you at your office at Sprockets and Widgets Inc., he probably has been out making money and not fundamentally opposing the core of what you stand for the last 20 years.  If I put myself in the position, I could easily see burying the hatchet for someone who was generally sympathetic to my worldview, but maybe rubbed me the wrong way ages ago.  For someone who roundly denigrated my way of thinking (or associated closely with those who did so), it would be a much harder sell. 

Hope that stirs the pot a little.

 

Your Amish Actuary Guy,