Oh dear. One tries to be original, but already today I have been accused of

trying to plagiarize (a) David Hume, and (b) Eric Voegelin (twice). I have

read Hume, but not Voegelin. Hume, at any rate, is well worth plariarizing.

Here is my e-mail of the day, though, from a reader in Chicago:

“Derb—Does your distaste for ‘ists’ include constructionists? I’m with

you on the humorless stuff and most of what you said, but when it comes to

the U.S. Constitution….”

I assume he is referring to “constructioners”…..