David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'

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• Marlowe 08/23/2010 3:53:34 PM

  Like many of the commenters I too started life as a liberal. Hey, I grew up in Minnesota, what would you expect. But I, like Mamet, reached the same conclusion as I moved into my late 30's, "a free-market understanding of the world meshes more perfectly with my experience than that idealistic vision I called liberalism." Herein lies the problem for liberals, unless they are pressed hard by the market--few are,since most are denizens of institutions, such as, teachers, lawyers, politicians etc.--so they remain liberals. Not really brain-dead, I know many smart Liberals, what they are is reality dead. They live there lives in the cloister of academia, media, theater, liberal politics etc. and in those cloisters nothing ever attacks there cherished suppositions. Put them in a real market economy and there would be a lot less of them.

• Tom Feher 07/31/2010 3:12:03 AM

  After reading many of the comments from some "brain dead liberals", I echo a thought I have heard about the left, with which I agree. There is much knowledge in their thought, but wisdom is lacking.

• Tom Feher 07/31/2010 3:04:14 AM

  As always, Mamet gives a perspective that is as thoughtful and as simple as the advice he gives to actors, which is that they should stand up straight and speak what the writer has put on the page.NUFF SAID.

• Padraig Quinn 07/30/2010 11:12:23 AM

  As I read Mr. Mamet's essay, two quotes came to mind: "Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." No doubt, you all are familiar with these words. Mr. Mamet's conclusion seem only slightly different, though it takes him longer to get to the point.

• me 07/28/2010 7:47:11 AM

  you actually stopped being smart - conservatives are low iq idiots. now go ahead and be a conservative and make this disappear.

• Dan 07/22/2010 8:11:18 PM

  Seems like David's gone from one brain-dead to another brain-dead. The way he describes it, his new views are just as simplistic as his old ones... and just as wrong. But he writes about it in an entertaining way, and we can all be glad he's getting intellectual stimulation. Let's hope he lives long enough to change his mind again. ;)

• Bill 07/22/2010 1:56:39 PM

  To the previous brain-dead liberal poster: Yes, "grown up", as in not playing in someone's nasty pooper as only a liberal queer can do. Pardon us adult conservatives for laughing at stupidity and outlawing outrageously unhygienic and childish behavior.

• S 07/13/2010 11:50:47 PM

  And so, Mr. Mamet, what do you think of the 2010 Texas GOP platform calling for the re-criminalization of sodomy in addition to making gay marriage a felony offense? Is this what "growing up," as the conservative posts imply, entails? Is this what makes America a great nation? Was this what you gave up liberalism for?

• bill harris 07/12/2010 7:49:11 PM

  Gee, how shocking. The guy gets rich and suddenly wants a right-wing Republican government (to protect his gold and his wife's fat ass from all the minorities, who will surely come to storm the castle). All this, even, wrapped in a wasp-waisted, egocentric series of recursive digressions. A good reminder of Abbie Hoffman's genius when he said: "Don't trust anybody over 30."

• Julie Taylor 07/08/2010 2:08:29 AM

  This is a very powerful and honest article. I too like david was once a liberal. Let's face facts. Most people do not change their beliefs especially when it comes to politics. To challenge your own beliefs can be a very enlightening thing to do. Ever since I was born, I was being brainwashed with liberal media telling me that being liberal is the way to be. The television and newspapers constantly bombard individuals with liberal ideas. Most people stay weak and only believe what they have been told throughout their lives. David took a journey to challenge his own beliefs and I believe he discovered enlightenment by doing this. Most people never change. Most people are sheep. Challenge yourself and most importantly challenge the media that uses propaganda to get their points across. The television is the greatest brainwashing tool ever invented. Always remember that. Never forget that most liberals are running television networks and newspapers.

• cinda 07/02/2010 11:29:11 AM

  This is a playright who has changes his mind from liberal to conservative. He praises Thomas Sowell.

• Conrad Shull 06/25/2010 5:01:30 AM

  So, David discovers common sense. Is this profound? Anyway, David should read up on John Adams, our second president - a man with considerably great insight into the nature of man and government (particularly ours).

• Stourley Kracklite 06/18/2010 5:38:13 AM

  Given Mamet's coarse characterization of the liberal's outlook as "a state where everything was magically wrong and must be immediately corrected at any cost," I can meet his thesis halfway: he is no longer a liberal. Beyond that, the conservatives are welcome to embrace Mamet and his newly acquired Que Sera philosophy. If it jibes with their principles, all the more shame to them. Liberalism never promised you a perfect world, David. Imperfection ought not a be used as an excuse to retreat to do-nothingness. I'm happy for you in your comfort and entitlement. And yet there is work to be done, small steps of improvement that can, and are, being made by liberals with realistic goals. And yet... And yet there are those falsely characterize our efforts and those who manipulate those who do in order to better for themselves.

• Timothy Peterson 06/18/2010 5:25:32 AM

  If the Constitution provided for five branches of government, "conservatives" would find that system prescient and gush that it was "rather perfect." This apostasy is frock coat envy pure and simple; it happens to a lot of men in middle age.

• Timothy Peterson 06/18/2010 5:15:22 AM

  Let's eliminate safety violations by not noticing!

• Rafael Hernández 06/17/2010 9:08:26 PM

  As I read this I feel my facial muscles tightening, and the words beginning to form in my mind: Shut the fuck up!

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• Ms. Anthropy 05/25/2010 10:30:59 AM

  Wow. Amazing. In writing about your experience, you have completely summed up my own awakening--from what I call The Matrix--with this terrific piece. I can't wait for the next one, which I imagine will be called "Why I, David Mamet, am embarking upon a penpal relationship with my literary soulmate, Ms. Anthropy."

• Gozo! 05/23/2010 1:05:44 PM

  On second thought: The point of view Mr. Mamet expresses (if I understand him) stands above the fray of human politics. And perhaps this is his role, as a playwright. But the back-and-forth tug-of-war or the tripartite American system of government require that back-and-forth or three-way movement. And so, on second thought, in relation both to my analysis of Mr. Mamet's role above the fray and to my original statement, let it stand: Nice work, if you can get it.

• Gozo 05/23/2010 12:58:55 PM

  Nice work, if you can get it!

• Jeff Brodhead 05/23/2010 2:50:30 AM

  David, as two years have passed since this writing, has your inspiration continued to bring about change in your views?

• Jeff Brodhead 05/23/2010 2:42:51 AM

  Good for you David. Good for you.

• Jennifer 05/09/2010 4:51:21 PM

  I would say that emolasses has no sense of balance if he sees both parties as extremes. I see the Republicans as now moderate but the Democrats have moving far, far left with this administration.

• emolasses 04/30/2010 11:28:57 AM

  So if the extreme liberal ideology seems to make no sense after twenty-odd years, my only alternative is the other extreme? For an artist, he really has no understanding of nuance.

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• Artem 04/18/2010 5:55:14 AM

  I know that Mr. Mamet doesn't need protection from insults. But I feel the urge to say that even if he was the director of one single movie, the Homicide - for me there is more than enough evidence in this film of director's sincere attempts to investigate and show the painful complexity of human nature on the most poignant level possible even in literature, not to mention the movies. I mean how can one throw accusations about lack of passion at the man who made this film, not to mention his other works?

• Artem 04/17/2010 5:02:09 PM

  I'm 33 and I've come to the same conclusion. And I'm sad to accept it and I won't. I think in my case my colcusion is premature and false. I think it's a question of accepting the evil nature of the world only after you've fought enough, to you utmost against it. Even if the fight was nothing but tilting at windmills, it's not the effect, but your sincere, individual intention of Don Quixote, that gradually makes you a better person no matter how naive and impractical your actions may seem. It's not about the evil itself, it's about you. But I think you've done enough and have fought enough evil in your brilliant plays and films to sign this peace treaty after all.

• Morty Sklar 04/16/2010 3:39:36 PM

  Thank you, David. I came to this by accident when I noticed that you are a writer of "The Unit," which I've come to like a lot and find fascinating, and I went to the IMDb website to see what else you'd done, as I knew your name and some of your work but forgot what the works were (I'm seventy-four now--that's my excuse). I admire your output.

• Lou Ganzo 04/09/2010 10:45:35 PM

  This remains a great article. Even more relevant today. What this article tries to reach past is the group-think that occurs on both sides, admittedly. But since it's the Left that has become the establishment and the new Enlightenment from Leftist views is occurring in the Right-Middle - it's the Left that has to answer for the status quo. Thus - the dogmatic Lefties line up to take shots at anyone who threatens their political doctrine or saints and run screaming from the discussion with their intellectual fingers in their ears and from an argument they can't bear to consider. They just root for their team. That's all politics is these days. It's the Yankees/Sox, Michigan/OSU, Dodgers/Giants. Nobody's thinking. Just rooting for their team. Their comes a time when you have to wake up and say our guys can't hit. Our coach is old and tired. Mamet's article is an example of someone realizing they just weren't going to continue rooting for the same team for no reason. Everyone should have such moments of clarity and question where they stand. The Lefties wading in against him would be well served to count to 10, calm down and consider if they want to just keep pulling for the same team.

• Gabriel 04/03/2010 10:20:35 AM

  I love reading regular readers of The Village Voice sounding off about Mamet living in a bubble. Where do you live, dear readers? The East Village? What experiences you must have accrued straying so far from your comfort zone! By the way, unemployment rose after the New Deal. It most certainly did NOT drop. Perhaps you should have a look at Thomas Sowell, instead of throwing out terms like NeoCon (code for Jew) while writing off one of the better playwrights of the century.

• John 04/03/2010 1:42:29 AM

  Another red-diaper baby-to- Trotskyist Neoconvert. Yawn.

• Bill 03/24/2010 9:19:29 PM

  Great article. The only thing in it that gives me pause concerning Mr. Mamet's cognitive abilities was his referring to _Waiting For Godot_ as a masterpiece rather than the lightweight piece of puerile writing that it is.

• Kathy Barkulis 03/08/2010 10:19:57 PM

  I notice there are a lot of insulted liberals posting long, convoluted, and self-righteous comments to this article. Their apoplexy brings joy to my heart.

• Tim Lister 03/07/2010 7:05:31 AM

  I never did like Mamet; even when he was a "liberal". The man has no passion, is arrogant beyond belief, and lives in a bubble far removed from reality. He'll be a perfect fit for the conservative movement. It is no wonder then that he never really was more than a LINO (I'm sure Liberal In Name Only has been used somewhere before) and consequently never quite got what it really meant to be a liberal. His comment about NPR indicates that not only is he conservative, but a neo-con to boot! Not really a surprise to me; he's always been quite the ouroboros and has had little regard for any emotions or beauty in life. I'm glad he's finally "come out" so to speak. Mamet was the very definition of the Liberal Elite; he used to meet all the criteria of the stereotype, which made him nothing more than an embarrassment for the cause. On top of that his plays aged quickly and horribly after the gimmick of "Mametspeak" wore off, and the man garners little personal respect outside of his close NYC circle of comrades. Now he's where he belongs. Don't let the door hit you on the way out David!

• Donathan Salkaln 02/25/2010 9:00:16 PM

  Dear Village Voice Editor, I wrote this for the Chelsea Reform Democratic Club Newsletter. The Invisible New Yorker The recent news in the bankruptcy of the Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex coupled with our city’s announcement of a spectacular roller coaster rides going up in Coney Island is a testament to this city’s misguided agenda. Two giant land deals. The first deal was 80 acres and 11,000 units of affordable housing purchased at such a high price that the success of the deal was contingent upon replacing rent-regulated residents, with tenants willing to pay higher market-rate rents. When the residents screamed for help, trying to purchase the property themselves, Mayor Bloomberg and this city turned it’s back on them. The second deal, 7.5 acres of sand in Coney Island for which the city paid $95 million is part of the Mayor’s agenda —that of reshaping New York City into a Disney type destination. A new amusement park is just another glitzy piece added to the promenades in the middle of avenues, flags hanging everywhere, clean streets, city workers with nice uniforms, no strikes, and new and well maintained parks. He makes sure that the museums, theaters and most cultural avenues are thriving. Let's not forget the stadiums we built in the Bronx and Queens, and the one we’re currently cramming into downtown Brooklyn. With this, New York City attracted over 45 million tourists in 2009, replacing Orlando as the No. 1 destination in the country. The Mayor is shooting for 50 million by 2012. With countless foreigners taking advantage of the cheap dollar and gobbling up all the high end condos, his goal might be achieved. Lost in the Mayor’s plan are we, the New Yorkers. People, like the thousands in Stuyvesant, who live and work here and are expected to be courteous, give that helping hand and directions to all the tourists. He even wants us to look good, prodding us to lose weight, not to smoke, and even disappear, if we’re homeless. Meanwhile, we're drowning in high rents, taxes, fees and fines. Our favorite stores and relatives priced out of town. And let’s not let the City Council off the hook. Many of our club members took part in the Chelsea demonstrations to fight unfair commercial rent increases and yet our council let it’s proposed law, for fair negotiations of small business lease renewals, disappear from it’s docket without even a vote. It’s not part of the big plan. To the Mayor, commercial rent arbritration means ‘Same Old, Same Old’ —not ‘New, New, New.’ Some of us even like ‘Old, Old, Old.’ But we’re invisible. Donathan Salkaln 458 west 23rd St. New York, NY 917-568-8479

• alicia 02/18/2010 8:59:17 PM

  and you are now a true liberal, not a political . i read this column last year. i admire your writing style

• Ronald Jackson 01/27/2010 1:46:31 PM

  Mamet should check out P. Manso's startling and stinging essay on Normal Mailer. Mamet is in danger of making the same September-of-life mistakes (and compromises) that Mailer made. The essay is available here in .PDF format: http://twurl.nl/sed4v3

• rdaneel 01/25/2010 4:32:42 PM

  Mamet: "...I am hard-pressed to see an instance where the intervention of the government led to much beyond sorrow." At this point in the essay, I realized that Mamet has moved from an unreflective, uninformed, and simplistic liberal perspective to an unreflective, uninformed, and simplistic conservative perspective. As counter-examples: without the U.S. military, the world would probably be ruled by some dictatorship. Social Security has enormously reduced poverty among senior citizens. Where would we be without the American educational system? The interstate highway system in the 1950s. The canal system in the early 19th century. The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Etc, etc., etc. One can debate whether government has gone too far, whether there are better alternatives to a specific government intervention, etc. But to claim that "government intervention" has only led to sorrow is a "brain dead" conservative argument.

• bett 01/02/2010 1:39:47 PM

  Well, good luck Mr. Mamet.

• erich 12/31/2009 5:03:31 PM

  Any time someone says something to the effect of "Mamet is a fine playwright, but he's no Constitutional scholar," I'm struck how often that person isn't one either.

• doug 12/30/2009 8:02:04 PM

  Great stuff. Mamet has now a grown up.

• Aaron 12/07/2009 6:57:17 AM

  Mamet's article fails on several points, in particular, the actual facts. First, government intervention in the economy has saved the economy on several occasions. There can be no denying that before the New Deal, unemployment was at 25% and after, it fell to 10%. Also, what was America's military buildup for World War II if not Keynesianism on a vast, vast scale? Cases of less government intervention leads to a void, which is filled not by people, but by corporations. A corporation is not doing its job unless it is doing all it can to make as much money as possible for its shareholders. This does not factor in actual costs to society, so we are in all, worse off. I dispute Mamet's entire premise that we're all better off when everyone is seeking their own self-interest. This might be the case, were all things created equal. But, since you have groups in society, particularly large corporations who have no duty to help society, with vastly more power than the average citizen, this just does not balance out. If we were all equal, he might have a point. But I have vastly less power to get something done as compared to Exxon-Mobil or Archer Daniels Midland. Another point: while the Founding Fathers distrusted "the mob," they were certainly far closer to Locke than Hobbes in their philosophy and they were creatures of the Enlightenment, not an earlier age. Mamet is also ahistorical in his understanding of the US Constitution. He mentions an overreaching judicial system, which simply wasn't an issue in 1787. He is imposing a modern (well, last 70 years) conservative complaint about the Supreme Court onto the minds of the Founding Fathers, who simply would have been confused. The Supreme Court really didn't make its mark as powerful in the political process until Marbury v. Madison and really didn't express that power until Dred Scott. And the Supreme Court really didn't express its power to help anyone except the ruling classes until the very late 1930s. Mamet is a fine playwright, but he's no Constitutional scholar. The real advances for the vast majority of Americans were due largely to the activism of people on the left and center-left. Unions gave us our vast middle class. Government spending on land-grant colleges vastly improved our educational system. Government spending has gotten us out of a number of economic holes, most of which have been caused by reckless right-wing economic policies. In short, Mamet has no idea what he's talking about.

• Raging Patriot 10/10/2009 10:13:38 PM

  Is Mamet saying that liberalism is, in and of itself, a brain-dead ideology? Or is he speaking of a particular brand of liberalism?

• Brian Piltin 10/09/2009 5:25:16 PM

  I'm happy to realize that David Mamet is still cool after all of these years and that some of us eventually grow up.

• Elliott 08/14/2009 1:44:39 PM

  From my reading of this, Mamet seems to sum up his point of view with this: "But if the government is not to intervene, how will we, mere human beings, work it all out? I wondered and read, and it occurred to me that I knew the answer, and here it is: We just seem to. How do I know? From experience. I referred to my own—take away the director from the staged play and what do you get? Usually a diminution of strife, a shorter rehearsal period, and a better production." We just seem to?? First of all, I think it’s at least somewhat noteworthy that this was written just months before the near collapse of our entire free market capitalist system, just months before none other than Alan Greenspan (our generation’s laisses faire guru) proclaimed before congress that his lifelong held beliefs about self-regulated markets may have been all wrong. Given that it was, ironically, a fundamentalist free market government administration that presided over the half trillion dollar bailout our banking system last fall, a conclusion of “we just seem to work it all out” reads a bit hollow to me. Secondly, to back up his conclusion, Mamet cites his experience as a…. movie director? Is this really the most insightful/useful metaphor to understand the proper role of government in our lives? Kinda disappointing. I’m not sure how Mamet can proclaim as of last year that he’s a transformed conservative. His plays from years past like Oleanna and Glen Gary Glen Ross are about as non-leftist as it gets. I went to an interview he gave at the San Francisco JCC a few months ago where he presented a rather scathing critique of Jews who dare to seek some sort of middle-ground in Israeli-Palestinian relations, or, worse yet, dare to call into question any of Israel’s foreign policies. At least he didn’t dare to suggest that the people will just work it all out on their own. In any event, I'm an amateur playwright. I have great respect for Mr Mamet as a writer and provocateur. No matter what his personal beliefs are, he's clearly in my humble opinion the best American playwright or our generation.

• Roni Bell 08/06/2009 2:23:51 PM

  David, After 40 years of being both deeply involved in and passive observer of politics, I'd say your take on the scenario is pretty akin to mine. As your elder, my overview today has become simple: It’s the anti-Americans vs. the Democrats, Republicans, Independents and Libertarians. The anti-Americans are a mix of “ists!” As in socialists, communists, Marxists, eco-fascists. As a rural land/water owner/user - resource provider, years ago I first witnessed - then started warning people about the eco-fascist movement as a “front” to the end game of their getting control over all land and water in America. Urbanites don’t have land and water for stealing...resource providers do. Ergo our being early on the receiving end of the destructive, ugly, corrupt actions of entities like Al Gore, Bruce Babbitt, TNC, Sierra Club and on - as they troll across America constantly re-inventing themselves (as great con-ARTISTS must do to perpetuate their con) and their scams, to get the land and water. Now, after 17 years of grooming and the best ever media blitz, they plopped their front man at the helm, where they can now simply use him to legislate us out of our property...without ever firing a shot. My urban friends still don’t understand this, for they’ve never had the feds steal their yards and income out from under them. Therefore, they defend the actions of what I call “Earthvexors.” A fitting term I stole from a story called “There’s Got To Be A Pony” by Arem Roder. David, now I await your sequel to “Brain Dead.” Maybe you will be the one to at last pop open the eyes of my urban friends, and help us turn while we still have opportunity to turn back this God-awful monster that’s trying to swallow up the whole of America. PS: You patronage the restaurant where my daughter works, and you’ve been a consistently fine, well-mannered and kindly gentleman to her...and I thank you for that.

• Dominick Lawton 08/04/2009 2:32:17 PM

  This is utterly ridiculous. I mean, yeah, it's obviously simplistic to the extreme - a few rather mundane observations about politics and people, filtered solely through the experience of a rich, successful, sheltered New Yorker - but his ideas about what constitute "liberalism" and "conservatism" (not to mention leftism and rightism) are so appallingly wrong, so incoherent and schizophrenic, that anyone who thinks about politics at all seriously should be embarrassed to read them regardless of ideology. However did the human race get on for so long without David Mamet to tell us that people are capable of behaving badly, but also that things in general aren't terminally awful, so we should submit to reasonable authority but also recognize that government interference is always bad, and drop our class grievances because there's nothing legally preventing us from becoming affluent sexagenarian playwrights like him? Would that I had such privileged insight into the human condition...

• Nate Berman 08/04/2009 2:31:47 PM

  You are now a brain-dead conservative. The operative term here is brain dead, and you have not really strayed from that state over the decades. You speak from a place of privilege, so of course, things are not wrong for you. You do not speak for the millions who work crappy jobs and get paid crappy wages and are not free to make the choices that wealth makes possible. I object to your characterization of liberal ideas and ideals being connected somehow to the position that everything is wrong. You are so far off the mark it's a little sad, really. You fancy yourself a great thinker, when in reality, you are simply brain dead. You are a typical conservative, in that you are too happy in your own little world to challenge the status quo when it is not working for the majority of Americans.

• Victoria Mixon 07/14/2009 7:32:14 PM

  "I knew the answer, and here it is: We just seem to." Huh? a) This is a pretty casual unsubstantiated opinion on which to base political expertise, and b) the conservatives in this country are not anti-government. That's a piece of nonsense propaganda that anybody should be able to see through. Unless I'm forgetting who it is who wants to outlaw certain types of marriage, force tax-supported public schools to teach Creationism as a "science" and legally deny a vital medical procedure to women on the basis that God doesn't like it. Come on, Mr. Mamet. I always thought you were a lot smarter than this.

• Dea G. 07/11/2009 9:38:55 AM

  If one can’t be brief, than he’d better be correct! I have made every self-assurance over the last 2 decades that every claim I make here is objectively supported. Many thanks for coming to your realizations, as every little bit helps, however I feel you still may have a-ways to go. I don’t mean to burst your bubble, however there exists no bonifide "right" within today's political establishment. Save for less than a full handful of sublime statesmen, all are either: 1. Fully blown-out, bought-off, lying reds (albeit a trait of all, however most extremely used by Leninists to gain initial office, like Michelle/David/Zbrignew/Henry's shiny new young fella', Barry) 2. Pinko's (furtive, razor-fence walkers, of the big-“C-onservative" ilk,) like PM Stephen Harper here in 2009 Red Canaduh, (or everyone's fave, Ronnie, the fella’ from Hollywashwoodington,) 3. Orange (who will emulate both while exhibiting "truth-is-stranger-than-fiction incompetence,") for their own personal McGain & power-drunken Butshery, while under the "in-Spektor" of making Pal(in)'s public view to bolster their particularly sociopathic ego's. The other less-than-handful I mentioned earlier exist as largely unknown, lame-stream media outcasts, because they actually are too honest, moral, & heroically courageous to be bought off, compromised, or overly fearful of assassination (or suffering "natural causes," or "suicided" as is most common) by the other three. This select few include ~ Dr. Ron Paul, Dr. Rand Paul, Chuck Baldwin, Mark Hamilton, & ( ... u-m-m-m, ... well, while there are others whom take their lead from these few, ... can anyone use a spare baby finger?) Texas 11-Congressterm, albeit GOP-outcast, Dr. Paul says he'd make gov. so dadgummed idsy-bitsy, that he'd be able to go back to birthing babies, and take up golf, which would ironically make him the best President to have ever looked forward to the title. What will it take to make these R3volutionarys more blatantly obvious to everyone, including ones such as yourself? Me' thinks the sleight-of-hand middle-men have simply not yet been outed by net-value producing, fun n’ profit for humans-laden, free-choice-competition business, which after all, are always the ones everyone counts on to do all the work, (of course, only once the payoffs are covered.) Like all R3volutions, free-choice, free-competition-only regulated, "good for me," humanly moral "Government Inc." is coming very much sooner than most anyone imagines. “Radical” you might think? Perish the thought! The closest Earth has ever had to such a non-oppressive system was also, witness (no mere coincidence, since we are talking about explosively productive, infinitely creative, innocent, benevolent, loving conscious human beings) to the greatest growth ever yet experienced on the planet. To wit, … say, the period between 1776-1870, +- a decade or so here in this here new-yankee world. After that point, ol’ Ben’s ESSU mortgagers felt too threatened by the potential loss of their bogus, royalty-hobb-knobbing-facilitating parasitism to allow human freedom to continue. So, once having saw to it that China went red by eliminating free-trade from that country's agenda (through DC antics, ... read up on RRoad/SShip magnate-hero Canadian-born, industry-exporter extrordinaire, J.J.Hill,) doing-in the czar, eliminating most half-breeds from the brotherhood thru promoting Austria’s twisted blue-blood from army private, they then turned more & more of their guns, fists, and threat modus operandi attentions on today's goldless, illusionary-fiat, mysticism/TV/religion riddled USSA shoeple. Suffice to say, communism cannot occur in a rich land, so you'd better batten down the hatches for what's coming next under Leni, (... oooops, sorry) Obombination. David, as much as I appreciate Thomas Sowell, I must interject that the greatest "comtemporary" philosopher of our time is in fact, not he. If contemporary may be allowed to mean dead, yet who were the originators of what folks like Sowell still claim ought to be tried, I offer Aristotle as a great litmus-test of our 2600 yo dark-ages, Ayn Rand as the most liberating of all women to have yet lived (yet uncoincidentally, still not taught in women’s schools,) and Dr. Frank R. Wallace, Phd, a former Dupont Research Chemist, who was exceedingly sublime, (... sufficiently enough in fact, to realize he needed to quit that job, and market objective philosophy in focused packages to many millions worldwide, in all languages, outside the lame-stream & the gov. schools.) Ever wonder why so many ready-made people were so eager to support heroes like Dr. Paul online globally? Apparently you were not on Dr. Wallace’s mailing list. I look forward to more realizations from your very enjoyable columns.

• Bill Gilbert 06/30/2009 6:22:45 AM

  Right on the mark - a wonderful summation of human nature.

• Aaron 03/24/2009 3:52:46 PM

  I rather enjoyed Mamet’s description of his political transformation. The events of the past few months seem to validate his notion that government does more harm that good. Incessant prodding of the economy by politicians, most of whom have never operated businesses, is incredibly brain-dead. It is also laughable to suggest that the Federal Reserve’s monopoly over money (medium of exchange) and various governmental inducements to stimulate homeownership over the past 20+ years is the ‘free-market’ in action. Today’s budget deficits, pending trade protectionism (aka trade wars), industry hammering cap and trade legislation, and future tax increases will only make it worse. Let’s face it; our lives would be better if Obama and Congress took an extended vacation.

• kappa chino 03/22/2009 9:16:02 AM

  As you reflected; nor did I read your ruminations (in full). Were you to develop a working appendix to the political discourse it would suggest that commonsensicalities, in regard to politics, are anything but sensible, nor, moreover, and of greater import, sensual. I reflect generally on N.O. Brown as I would suggest that the tragic/perfectionist, Manicheanistic, cosmology is delusion. The quandary is whether we accept and submit to the patriarcho-material perspective, or accept an idealization, that brotherhood, the demos, is the calculus of human liberation. Enlightenment is as bleak as pomp and circumstance before it. In frustration and sympathy, I am, Kappa Chino

• david anderson 03/18/2009 2:53:46 PM

  how disappointing. why would david mamet (or anyone else) revere JFK? The myth is up! The jig is Up! This Warhol 15 minutes has long been up!

• JD 03/05/2009 11:58:16 AM

  "Right-wing authoritarianism is measured by the RWA scale. The first item on the scale states, "Our country desperately needs a mighty leader who will do what has to be done to destroy the radical new ways and sinfulness that are ruining us." People who strongly agree with this are showing a tendency toward authoritarian submission (Our country desperately needs a mighty leader), authoritarian aggression (who will do what has to be done to destroy), and conventionalism (the radical new ways and sinfulness that are ruining us)." I was unfamiliar with the term "Right-wing authoritarianism", but the concept appears to me (from a conservative/libertarian viewpoint) a mindset advocates of increased power and centralization of government intervention/control would exhibit. The Obama administration has many qualities of the Bush administration; both share the view that times of peril necessitate a consolidation of executive authority and a repudiation of the separation of powers set forth in the Constitution. America needs leaders who will repudiate this misguided view, diminish their personal power for the good of the country, and protect the people by entrusting all non-enumerated powers to the greatest minority in society; the individual.

• Darrell 02/19/2009 12:02:18 PM

  Moving from liberalism to conservatism is what most people refer to as "growing up".

• Will DiMartino 01/29/2009 11:02:02 PM

  It seems to me that Mamet's idea of liberalism falls short of the mark. Oddly he says- 'As a child of the '60s, I accepted as an article of faith that government is corrupt, that business is exploitative, and that people are generally good at heart.' As a moderate liberal myself, I hardly consider these to be the cornerstones of liberalism. (Excepting the business exploit remark.) I've always thought liberalism was about trusting the government to do what's right via force of public demand. As far as exploitative businesses- Well, too bad for David, the current economic collapse IS because of exploitative practices. As far as believing people are generally good- I've never thought that was a liberal prerequisite per se. (Perhaps, he is intimating the concept of interdependence we liberals tend to have a better grasp of? Is that what he means?) BTW- Understanding interdependence leads to better economic policies. (For the record, the facts and numbers show that democratic presidents have always done better for the economy.) But I digress... Aside from these meager cornerstones David promotes as liberalism, I would think that in his study of economics and name dropping of right wing economists, that he would of at least mentioned liberal economist Paul Krugman- who given the recent disaster- deserves great praise considering he predicted it many years ago. I also find odd the Norman Mailer reference. While Norman may have taken back a review about 'Wating For Godot', and despite leaving the Village Voice, he most definitely held high the flag of liberalism till his final days. Mamet's cathartic corollary just doesn't wash. (R.I.P. Norman.) And what's all this about the military? If I recall correctly, there are plenty of democrats and liberals who've faithfully served the cause of freedom. (Of course, any conservative would have you believe otherwise and I'm shocked that Mamet would fall for this age old campaign trick.) But now that the election is over, and in just over one week, President Obama has quickly made great progress in fostering stem cell research, women's working and reproductive rights, eliminating the fear of immanent arrest for not being a patriotic flag sucker, and most important, promoting an emotionally intelligent and positive American image worldwide- Perhaps Mr. Mamet will once again see the benefits liberalism. (Imperfect as it is.) And lastly, David- As a fan of your work, I'm always ready to hear more of your opinions regardless if it differs from mine. But just a friendly and somewhat snide liberal style warning- Given the strong conclusions that psychologist Bob Altemeyer's RWA scale have recently shown, it may indeed be the conservatives who are 'brain dead'. Therefore, if I were you, I'd be careful before hanging out with Rush Limbaugh just yet, as he may not be so forgiving as those of us on the other side.

• Alain Johnson 01/22/2009 12:19:10 AM

  I had a similar experience with Mr. Mamet. I was firm in my political convictions, and sure of my opinions. Then I had an epiphany of sorts. Unlike Mr. Mamet’s, which was big and wide-ranging, what with economic system and all that, mine was small and personal. Basically, it was just a question: “If we’re on the side of the right & righteous, then why are we so nasty?” We’re always insulting someone, denigrating some point of view, ridiculing some group. If we’re so sure we’re right, I thought, why are we so insecure that we need to lash out at someone else? After all, what kind of person needs to affirm his sense of self by insulting others, calling them “brain-dead?” Seriously, how sullied can your soul be that you need to belittle others to feel better about yourself? What kind of loser needs to do that? People get by, and that’s supposed to be a good thing. And whatever happened to the American Dream? CEO’s don’t settle for getting by, but of course “getting by” is good enough for the common people? How deeply has Mr. Mamet swallowed the right wing creed. That his eyes are open is one of the most idiotic Conservative talking point. Like insisting that the media is liberal even though the #1 news channel in the US is Fox News, the #1 newspaper is the Wall Street Journal, the #1 radio host is Rush Limbaugh, and the top op-ed writers are Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Armstrong etc. Incidentally, this ability to praise themselves for having open eyes while simultaneously slapping, taping, welding them shut is what make Conservatives such good authors, liars and propagandist. So congratulations to Mr. Mamet, may he get whatever he deserves, and a stiff drink for the world that such a forceful word crafter has turned to the dark side. On the other hand it explains why the world is in the state it is today. Let’s raise our cups to a brain-dead, heartless, blindfolded, word-twister, poisoner of ideas… the world surely doesn’t need yet another one.

• Omar 01/12/2009 12:18:29 PM

  Ironically, the justifications for most leftish policy-making have everything to do with our recognition of the empirical failures of idealistic market solutions, yet Mamet insists liberals do little more than scapegoat big targets; which is fine, by all means, please vote and advocate for people who are with you on the issues that matters most, and if I were a betting man, I would go with Israeli politics here (given that NPR is often considered pro-Israel, just, I suppose, a different degree than Mamet), but to conflate that issue with appreciation for separation of powers or market economics is, well, pretty brain-dead. I'm sure you'll have plenty of company on the other side, but don't try looking for the lack of faith in your fellow man - you left that back over here with the liberals. It's the conservatives that think things will be just fine left to their own devices. And when you find the facts changing on you again, I'll look for article "why I am no longer a dead-wrong conservative."

• jmckinne 01/07/2009 8:47:54 PM

  No Paul Tanner, the real "refuge for the morally weak" and "intellectually dishonest" is liberalism. How courageous is it to preach to others about causes "for the common man"? You know you can count on whole hearted support and recognition from the media, hollywood, just about everyone in the "brain dead liberal" universe. How intellectually dishonest is it to believe you're some kind of saint or martyr for thinking that way, rather than just a coward? As Annie so succintly conveyed, a collectevised approach to all problems sure works wonders - especially if getting yourself personally off the hook for any of the real effort is one of the goals. P.S. You're also a condescending elitist twit. Statements like "I was actually only referring to people who are intelligent enough to have a meaningful political opinion" make that pretty clear. You'd be equally at home in the House of Lords or the Politburo with sentiments like that. You'd be perfectly comfortable doing the prole's thinking for them it appears.

• Allan Wikman 12/23/2008 4:25:39 PM

  Never in my insular (thought I was open to everything) world had I even heard of Mr. Mamet's piece. Surfin' ain't all for naught. Now, I'll invite at least ten others to share his genius. And, as soon as I can scrape up the money to buy a black print cartridge, add this to my treasure trove. David, have you ever, formally, "taught" one or more groups?

• Paul Tanner 12/22/2008 5:14:32 AM

  Annie, I was actually only referring to people who are intelligent enough to have a meaningful political opinion. Therefore I was not referring to you or the examples you gave. That sounds like an empty shot, but it's not. People who have just a hint of some feeling (for example, a typical ignorant teen labeling himself liberal because he 'senses' at some level who's right and wrong, and on which side he'd be if he had any idea about anything that was going on), but cannot articulate it, because they don't understand any of the issues involved in politics or what are commonly called political debates, because they haven't thought about them much, or very hard, are not really at issue here. I don't care about those people, who are the vast majority. I'm talking about people who understand all the issues involved. And of these, the conservatives tend to be men who know better, but whose knees grow weak at the task implied by liberalism. After all, conservatism is essentially "keep it how it is", that is to say, it's an approach based on accepting society warts and all, because that's just human nature, darn it. This is just how things actually are! And we've got to deal with them as they are! That's the conservative opinion. And they make it sound like they're ones getting down to doing the tough work of really dealing with the situation, by approaching it as it is, and without reference to any ideal, but what it truly is is an evasion, and the rejection of what they knew would have been an immense responsibility. But in their choosing not to accept that responsibility I often sense a sadness. But it's not the sadness they would say it is, over the world's "really being this way", rather it's a sadness at their own failure of nerve. Conservatism is a refuge for the morally weak and intellectually dishonest. And they know it.

• annie 12/19/2008 9:10:11 AM

  from a fellow former liberal (and anthropology major - so ULTRA brainwashed!!) so liberals are "good", and conservatives are "bad"? you say David should do his research?? YOU do YOUR research! conservatives are MUCH more likely to donate their money AND time to volunteerism. MUCH more likely. again, DO the research. i am a conservative. i have been a big sister for 4 years, done work with Habitat for Humanity, sponsor a child in Haiti, AND do dog rescue. my husband's whole family is liberal. they don't lift a finger for anyone. instead they vote for people who will tax their NEIGHBORS to support the (ever so effective) government. i guess that is their contribution. again, DO the research. i'm sick of being called a greedy republican by selfish liberals who think voting democrat absolves them of doing anything generous. think about it, when you believe government should handle all social services, what incentive is there for YOU to handle it yourself? you are essentially 'letting government off the hook'. and yes, i had a professor who said we should NOT volunteer because the government should be taking care of its citizens. i bought into it, but of course i ran around with a Che shirt on, thinking i knew it all.

• Marc Engel 12/18/2008 12:41:52 PM

  What a complete load of shit. Your generalizations have no grounding in actual research or fact. Love your plays and movies, but this is nonsense. Please stick to fiction.

• Paul Tanner 12/13/2008 6:01:43 PM

  I'm rather a fan of Mamet, and discovered this article while searching for interviews he might have done concerning a film of his (The Edge- aka 'his bear movie'). This article is very disappointing, but upon further consideration it's not disappointing for its stated views so much as for how little research Mamet seems to have done about not only politics, but all that is required for one to view and discuss politics intelligently - namely, philosophy, history, and economics. Especially philosophy. I am reminded of another person who used 'Tragic Sense of life', the philosopher Unamuno. He was not brain-dead (no one is brain-dead simply by virtue of being a conservative or a liberal), was in fact brilliant, but he was ultimately a conservative, despite his great love for his fellow man, and despite his knowledge of what one's moral duty was on earth - and I think it broke his heart, just as a similar denial of his true nature broke Dostoevsky's heart. These men, also, each wrote saints (Prince Myshkin and Saint Manuel the Good, respectively), because each knew what a saint was, and what was really good, and each force-fed them, at one point in their respective stories, utterly incongruous and inappropriate conservative statements. Though it was obviously inadvertent, those striking moments of incongruity (where Myshkin rants about the Catholic church, where San Manuel tells his young friend not to fight for social causes) provide perfect pictures of how ridiculous this kind of heartless, "Well this is how the world actually is, no time for pie-in-the-sky stuff" conservatism, when it infects men who obviously know better, really is. This is, on your part, pure rationalization for what is at heart a weakness. You are compromising your values and then rather than admitting as much, you are claiming they either weren't your values in the first place, or else were never realistic. Now you know how the world REALLY is. Uh huh. Conservatives and those with the professed values of conservatives are not the bearers of the tragic sense of life, they are merely the ones who sigh and use their having had that view of life (a view which most liberals share - the difference is in one's reaction to it) as an excuse to be weak, and immoral, and to forfeit compassion, because hey, life is fucking HARD, man. Yea, we liberals know that, too. We know life is hard. But I guess we just think it's hard enough as it is, without our adding our weight to the burden most carry already. Being a liberal is hard, just as being a good person is hard. If you are not up to it, say that. Do not write this disingenuous, weak essay, consisting almost entirely of points any good high school student could refute in fifteen minutes.

• Peter grace 11/12/2008 6:47:32 PM

  So David let me encapsulate: Elected leadership has been damaging to the US and directors wreck plays. Congratulations David you are now a brain dead anarchist. By the way I have recently witnessed a director-free production of Hamlet: The Swines R Us/ McCain/Palin/GOP campaign.

• Flu-Bird 11/11/2008 9:00:54 PM

  Liberals are always whinning about certian words might offend someone so they want stupid speech codes they think??? that is we banned guns everybody will sit around and hig and kiss one another becuase liberals are such idiots

• Michael 11/09/2008 9:38:35 PM

  Mr. Mamet, I did not get to this comment of your article in the usual sense. Let me intorduce myself...I am a 35 year old healthcare architect (I design and plan medical facilies) from Dallas, Texas where I have lived my whole life. Yes, I live in the city that your hero was assasinated...funny, he was the hero to much of my family until they all became republican some time during the mid 1980's...I'll digress as well. My wife and I have two children and we live and work to keep the life going with mortgages, car leases, kids in Catholic school and the banal (but good) rest of the story. I came across this article, because I was channel surfing one night and found a movie on IFC that was made from one of your plays..."Edmond" and it caught my interest as it stared one of my favorite actors, William H. Macy. Anyway, it was somewhat bizarre (That is, to this Catholic, republican, father of two from dallas TX) and I saw that it was a screenplay from one of your plays. So...I did what every red blooded American would do and looked you up on the internet. This was the heading that caught my interest...I know, that sucks but oh well...it is what it is (modern day euphamism for it's all fucked up, but we are not going to deal with it today.) So...the point of my response...As you are not a blind liberal anymore, I am not a blind conservative. I have been voting on the conservaive side, because I work for a corporation that I would not like to see taxed to the point that it effects my salary and/ or job which effects my abilty to keep the whole thing going (might be paranoid, but it is what it is:). But, I have to say that I am not all that dissappointed with the outcome of this election, because I would rather put my own self interest aside to makee way for the bigger picture of history, how a nation can be inspired and the fact that the tone of this nation will swing like a pendulum between left and right, but the middle ground (fortunately) will prevail. I just believe in my heart of hearts that we must meet in the middle, because we all need each other to keep the whole thing in check. I am what I am, but I can see the value in the "other" and I wish that all could live life the same. I vote for the "protectors" but I thank god for those who advocate for the rights of those that I vote to "protect" because at the end of the day, I think that we need each other. Funny how curiosity of somehing will take you somewhere that you never thought you would go in a million years. Cheers! Michael

• Johnn L Hadley 10/25/2008 9:25:24 PM

  Maybe you are not a brain dead liberal but u r a brain dead human. Civilization is in our genome to stop war and primitive tribalizm so we can advance our species. U R not a genius despite what your mom told you. Genius comes from the massive lower class and we must bring them up to save us. U, clearly average IQ, can't help get out of the way

• Craig 10/24/2008 2:30:21 PM

  It is a myopic and niggardly mind that cannot spare understanding and compassion for those with whom they disagree. ANY attempt to bring commonality and objectivity to our current political discourse should be hailed, not condemned. Reread the article without the condescending knee-jerk reaction. Mamet hasn't switched side--he has walked between them.

• Alex Ferguson 10/20/2008 1:48:53 PM

  Simple minded it is. I'm writing on 20 October. Looks like time for some government intervention in a big way. Mamet's comments about the "sorrow" inducing interventions of government are particularly American - that is the kind of American with blinders to the 3rd world conditions that exist inside his country. He should try living in countries with what Americans call "socialized medicare", and in countries that actually spend money on the public education systemt, and in countries that actually try to redistribute, through taxation, the wealth, so that it's not just those with the power to exploit that get it all. In fact, he should move to CAnada for a while. Yeah, Canada, that mixed economy, capitalist-with-some-socialist-values country, that still enjoys a robust middle class and tries to help out the disadvantaged for the good of all. Even after years of pressure from the US to crush our social programs, the vast majority of Canadians are still in favour of trying to hang on to them. I like Mamet's early plays. But he's become an unbearable, self-inflated, pompous writer, who keeps weighing in on things he really doesn't understand. Oh, he started thinking about politics "for the first time" - then, as a neophyte pundit, went out and wrote a play about it. At this point I'd be more interested in hearing from his wife - does she write plays? Maybe she's got something worth saying. He's just too in love with himself.

• Jose Trang 10/18/2008 4:30:36 PM

  David Mamet has two plays on Broadway this fall. One is American Buffalo starring John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer. http://www.amerianbuffalobroadway.com

• Rog 10/18/2008 10:32:22 AM

  Forgive me, but this is a surprisingly simple-minded article coming from someone whom I consider a brilliant and complex playwright. There's a joke: There are two kinds of people out there; those who divide up the world into two kinds of people and those who do not. If I may, it appears Mamet is the former. I wonder if it ever occurred to Mr. Mamet that the axis of deliberation might not be *how much* government but rather *what kind*? For example, so-called "liberals" would prefer less government in the case of rights (free speech, reproduction), while so-called "conservatives" would like more government in some areas (corporate welfare, military). Take one Milton Friedman, for example. Please show me where Friedman makes an impassioned plea to cut military spending to levels appropriate for national defense (rather than its current levels, which have surpassed the rest of the world combined). He doesn't. The reason for this is that Friedman does not mind taxpayer subsidies when it comes to protecting the interests of multinational corporations overseas. This, as opposed to defense, has become a primary function of our military. Let's please do ourselves a favor and dump labels. Let's instead recognize instead that there are policies that work to concentrate wealth in an aristocracy and there are policies that help provide an equal playing field for a meritocracy.

• Mark Westbrook 10/17/2008 7:30:23 PM

  I think what Mamet has to say is highly valid. Why not tell me what you think at www.mametnerd.com

• Morris Anisette 10/15/2008 6:50:18 AM

  wonder if he's changed his mind again

• Jason Drexler 10/05/2008 10:44:57 PM

  While reading this, I was reminded of what C.S. Lewis wrote about government: Government's duties are 1.) Encourage good behavior, 2.) punish bad behavior. That's it. And he was right.

• Jack Purdy 09/02/2008 7:26:35 AM

  I am late in reading this piece, but having just read Robert Caro's NY Times account, of Lyndon Johnson's championing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, both of which LBJ ruthlessly bulldozed through the Congress, I wonder how anyone can think that government cannot solve problems. Was General Electric going to get Voting Rights for African Americans? Don't think so.

• Stlolth 08/29/2008 3:35:39 PM

  Mamet changes from a guy who thinks people are good at heart to a guy who thinks if left alone people will just try to get along and work it out. Both equally brain dead. MAMETLOL

• tony 08/27/2008 5:23:07 PM

  I have always enjoyed and admired Mamet's work. However, much of this essay is simply bullshit. He writes: "I am hard-pressed to see an instance where the intervention of the government led to much beyond sorrow." Oh really? Did Lincoln's intervention in the corrupt, evil and inhuman system of slavery not lead to "much beyond sorrow"? granted, it DID lead to much sorrow, but to nothing beyond it? Again, did the national government's intervention in racial segregation throughout the country, especially the south, lead to nothing "much beyond sorrow"? Perhaps the FDA's intervention in protecting Americans from harmful drugs has led to only sorrow? Maybe it would have been better to have let any company sell any snake oil it wanted as long as it made a profit? Although, truth be told, after 8 years of Bush (and, to be fair, 8 years of Clinton), the FDA is letting more and more "new" snake oil through. But I digress. Can anyone truly say that any of these actions have led to nothing "much beyond sorrow"? Sorry, David. I still like your work. But you may want to re-think this statement.... Tony

• Joan 08/26/2008 12:26:07 PM

  I don't consider Mamet's new philosophy particularly liberal or conservative. Perhaps a better title would have been simply "Why I Am No Longer Brain-Dead."

• Jack Adams 08/22/2008 8:38:11 AM

  While this essay is very good for many reasons, it is the logical follow-on to Mamet's book "The Wicked Son" which showed a glimmer of his "coming out" by exposing the hypocrisy that exists in the "liberal" world today. Welcome to the real world, David.

• tdotTim 08/18/2008 8:34:10 AM

  In these wacky days of "all culture and religion is relative and equal...except the West which is evil"...I am rescued from my dalliance with hopelessness by this kind of essay. A great mind like Mamet, saying what many people believe, but actually needing courage to say it because he works in the head-in-the-sand political climate of the entertainment industry, is very heartening. Mamet, like most great writers, seems to take the core beliefs that we ourselves have formed over many years of experience and trial and error, and give them voice in a much more eloquent way than they bounced around in our respective heads. Thank you David Mamet, you have always been one of the few interesting writers in Hollywood (and the stage of course), and your clear thinking essay made my day.

• Eric 08/15/2008 12:42:47 AM

  Loved it David......Very Fresh

• frederic 08/01/2008 7:50:01 PM

  It's odd, I've been reading and watching Mamet for a long time, and it all seems more of a piece with his new views than the way he describes his old views. Especially, one of my favorites, his essay about the Cherry Orchard. As a liberal, I never got the vibe he describes as his former self. Which of his old plays look like the work of someone who thinks people are basically good at heart, (Glengarry Glen Ross?) reflect a "perfectionist" view, and all that jazz? I must have missed those. Everything I can think of, even his bear movie, seemed to me, at the time, a lot like his new and improved wisdom.

• Filby 07/22/2008 4:04:35 PM

  aw, I don't see him arguing that you "...have to be a JFK fan if you're against a totally free market. Or vice versa" He is simply pointing out a basic truth that our Founders knew and that we have lost, that centralized power leads to corruption and malfeasance driven by populism, greed, or both, or as Mamet puts it: "I am hard-pressed to see an instance where the intervention of the government led to much beyond sorrow." Given the numerous examples to date, from the Great Depression to the recent housing melt-down, why in the world does anyone still think that centralizing power and decision-making in the hands of a few is a good thing? Is it because they feel that their values are the right ones to be adopted by everyone, but that this can only be done through the coercive arm of government rather than through conversations with free people? The Great Depression was an outcome of the creation of the relatively new Federal Reserve system and excessive control over money by a centralized authority which contracted the money supply at just the time that it needed loosening, thereby creating the biggest and longest-lasting financial crisis the country has ever seen. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are an enormous $5.1 Trillion!!! liability on taxpayers. They were created to impose on us the government's values of high home ownership rates. (Sure its "good" to have a high level of home ownership, but what is the goal, and who decides? And why is it good for the state to discriminate against renters?) When will people learn that centralized control is a terrible idea, and that as the power of a centralized authority grows, it attractiveness as a target of corrupt or populist politicians only grows further? Chris Dodd, the darling of some on the left, is just one more corrupt politician who seeks to regulate the industry for the "common good." (From Wikipedia) "As Dodd in his role as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee proposed a housing bailout to the Senate floor in June 2008 that would assist troubled subprime mortgage lenders such as Countrywide Bank in the wake of the United States housing bubble's collapse,[22] Conde Nast Portfolio reported that in 2003 Dodd had refinanced the mortgages on his homes in Washington D.C. and Connecticut through Countrywide Financial and had received favorable terms due to being a "Friend of Angelo" - a friend of Countrywide CEO Angelo R. Mozilo.[23] Dodd received a $75,000 reduction in mortgage payments from Countrywide at allegedly below-market rates on his Washington, D.C. and Connecticut homes.[22][23] Dodd has not disclosed the mortgages in any of six financial disclosure statements he filed with the Senate or Office of Government Ethics since obtaining the mortgages in 2003. [24] Dodd's press secretary said the "Dodds received a competitive rate on their loans," and that "they "did not seek or anticipate any special treatment, and they were not aware of any," then declined further comment.[25] Republican State Chairman Chris Healy stated that "Dodd has crossed the ethics line by obtaining two generous mortgage deals with a company that is the corporate poster-child for the national subprime lending meltdown."[26] The Hartford Courant reported Dodd had taken "a major credibility hit" from the scandal.[27] The Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee Kent Conrad and the head of head of Fannie Mae Jim Johnson also received mortgages on favorable terms due to their association with Countrywide CEO Angelo R. Mozilo.[28][23] The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and two Connecticut papers have demanded further disclosure from Dodd regarding the Mozilo loans.[29][30][31][32] On June 17, 2008, Dodd met twice with reporters and gave conflicting accounts of his deals with Countrywide. He admitted to reporters in Washington,DC that he knew as of 2003 that he was in Countrywide's VIP program, but claimed it was due to being a good customer, not due to his political position. He omitted this detail in a press availability to Connecticut media.[33] Countrywide has also contributed a total of $21,000 to Dodd's campaigns since 1997. [23] Dodd has received approximately $70,000 in campaign contributions from Bank of America, who is buying Countrywide, in the last year-and-a-half before the Countrywide Financial loan scandal broke. [34] Only Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have received more Bank of America money than Dodd. [34] On June 19, Dodd told the Danbury News-Times "I don't believe I did anything wrong."[37] The state's leading newspaper, the Hartford Courant however concluded Dodd was negligent in accepting the Countrywide mortgage and suggested it was time "Dodd got off his high horse, came clean and admit he screwed up." [38] A New York Times editorial the same day accused Dodd and fellow Senator Kent Conrad of being painfully out of touch regarding the "Friends of Angelo" loans.[39] Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has called for House and Senate to investigate Senators Dodd and Conrad.[40]" I am reminded of Animal Farm, where its difficult to distinguish the pigs from the humans, and where some are more equal than others because they are in government.

• aw 07/21/2008 12:20:43 PM

  Sounds like Mamet is hyped about his political conversion. Just cause information is new to you doesn't make it right, and just cause it's old don't make it wrong. That said, his old and new beliefs both seem lopsided. Why do you have to be a JFK fan if you're against a totally free market? Or vice versa? Give me a break.

• Yo 07/12/2008 8:27:03 AM

  Wow. I never thought I would write a positive comment to something written in the VV, and yet, much like Norman Mailer, here I am admitting my mistake. It's almost like I just looked across the battle lines and saw my enemy. He looked like me, had the same ideals, and I could even see ghost images of his entire life behind him and they looked just like mine. Yet, here we were, about to kill each other. This is the first article I have ever read that reveals the truth we all know and hold, that even the worst of conservatives and liberals have common ground. If more people would admit it, and government did stay out of the way for the most part, this country could continue to "work it out" for the next thousand generations.