The Eclipse of Risk

AL Gore’s use of the adjective “risky” to disparage any policy proposal put forward by his opponent has now traveled the entire route from campaign rhetoric, via late-night comic patter, to the trash can of politico-linguistic trivia, where it rests at peace with “normalcy,” “missile gap,” and Willie Horton. I understand that Gore still uses the word off-camera; but this only demonstrates—as if any demonstration were needed—that politicians have no sense of the absurd.

But the fact remains, Gore’s people were on to something with that gambit. The contemplative sentry in lolanthe identified the two great domains in which political emotions dwell: “. . . every boy and every gal,/That’s born into the world alive,/Is either a little Liberal,/Or else a little Conservative!” Underlying this great divide are a number of lesser dichotomies: the preference for authority over autono-my, for example, or for stasis over change, or for the heroic over the domestic, as well as even older, more primitive antagonisms, such as rustic vs. urban and the rooted divisions about religion and race. These are the deep springs that feed our political passions.

About the Author

John Derbyshire

Mr. Derbyshire is a former contributing editor of National Review.

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AL Gore’s use of the adjective “risky” to disparage any policy proposal put forward by his opponent has now traveled the entire route from campaign rhetoric, via late-night comic patter, to the trash can of politico-linguistic trivia, where it rests at peace with “normalcy,” “missile gap,” and Willie Horton. I understand that Gore still uses the word off-camera; but this only demonstrates—as if any demonstration were needed—that politicians have no sense of the absurd.

But the fact remains, Gore’s people were on to something with that gambit. The contemplative sentry in lolanthe identified the two great domains in which political emotions dwell: “. . . every boy and every gal,/That’s born into the world alive,/Is either a little Liberal,/Or else a little Conservative!” Underlying this great divide are a number of lesser dichotomies: the preference for authority over autono-my, for example, or for stasis over change, or for the heroic over the domestic, as well as even older, more primitive antagonisms, such as rustic vs. urban and the rooted divisions about religion and race. These are the deep springs that feed our political passions.