The Corner

Re: Ties That Bind

Jonah, it’s true that people used to dress up to go on airplanes. But so what? Why on earth should people have dressed up to go on airplanes? The formality of previous generations was a social norm and therefore a convention. I suppose it had meaning in the sense that it was a way for people to look as much like adults as possible and that our casual-attired ways are an indication of the perpetual pursuit of youth. But the last thing you can say of the Crunchy Cons — of whom I must say I am most emphatically not one — is that they are acting like children. They’re trying to live a more serious life. Rod’s goal isn’t to live a more sober life. It’s to live a more sacramental life, to infuse the everyday with holiness.

John Podhoretz, a New York Post columnist for 25 years, is the editor of Commentary.
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