Government Shut Down

[glatt]

It's very interesting to me how this veterans turned away at the WW2 memorial site has resounded with Republicans. It's not just Adak, it's all over Facebook too.

At first I was like WTF? This is trivial. But then it struck me. Republicans (and conservatives) are all about symbolism. This is a perfect confluence of symbols. You have the veterans. You have a memorial, which is just some bricks and stones and fountains and stuff, but is the ultimate symbol, and you have the jackbooted thugs trying to stop the brave vets from paying their respects. It's a perfect confluence of symbolism for conservatives.

You might think that they would be upset over new cancer patients not getting into NIH studies, or social security payments being put in jeopardy in a couple weeks, or any of the thousands of other concrete things. But it's the symbolic stuff that speaks to them.

A handful of people were disappointed when their plans got messed up, so they made a fuss and got their plans straightened out. It's a non story. But the symbolism, man. The symbolism!