From a reader:

Jonah,
Negative comparisons of current conservatives to our predecessors is typical of human nature. When I was a teenager in the 60’s, I kept reading in the sports pages how terrible the then modern baseball player was compared to the golden age of the 30’s. Then, during the 90’s, I noticed that those same sports pages were declaring that the now modern baseball player was nothing compared to the players in the golden age of the 60’s. And I asked myself, how did the terrible era of the 60’s now become the golden age of baseball? If I live to the 2020’s, I am sure I will then read that the baseball players of 2020 are bums compared to the players in the golden age of the 90’s. And, as I am sure Jay Nordlinger will confirm, there are “experts” who insist that the opera casts of today cannot compare with the 50’s and 60’s. Twas ever thus.

Me: Fair enough. But when those kinds of criticism are directed straight at you, it’s worth clearing the air.