Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and among the things that are happening (other than the consumption of green beer and the playing of “Londonderry Air”) two are of interest to me: The first is that I am enduring lectures, from self-proclaimed conservatives, that my prescription for struggling people in economically stagnant communities — leave — offends Burkean sensibilities, or that it lacks (damn the word) empathy.
The second is that people all over the country, including many of those self-styled Burkeans, are celebrating the cultural traditions and history of Irish-Americans, who today, for some mysterious reason that a detailed and scholarly exegesis of economic history surely would illuminate, outnumber Irishmen in Ireland.
What ever could it mean?
The Burkean inflection point seems to be a moving target. I may see if the editors will republish the piece on Thanksgiving and see if that juxtaposition awakens the critics.