I always miss Travis McGee but especially so when I want to sort out some newish thing.
Of course, to miss Trav is also to miss Meyer, the hairy economist down F pier a ways. Trav could deal with a Puss Killian all by himself but needed Meyer for political and economic challenges. Even a womanizing free-lance detective can use a little logical positivism once in a while.
My friend L* alerts me to the Veterans Party of America which seems to be some sort of evolution of an earlier (c. 2003--20??) "veterans" party which didn't make it. It has recently published its platform. On first reading it looks more libertarian and anti-statist than anything the majors would dare put on paper. Better yet, some of the more important parts of it seem actually doable.
In my guise as pure political operative, I'm forced to tell the VPA, "rotsa ruck." Our America is the place where third parties go to be ignored, then die. The logic of their arguments has nothing to do with anything because they don't have and can not get the billions needed to create a nice image on the electric teevee.
Still, as a citizen, I'll be a happier if the VPA platform gets all possible exposure and discussion. Starting with you, Trav and Meyer. Whadaya think?
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*Interesting person. Along with another pretty girl some years ago, she started a business more or less from scratch. It thrives and has created jobs without, I believe, ever having asked government for a dime in subsidies, tax holidays, special tax exemptions, guaranteed markets (c.f. ethanol mandate) or the like. While she would never state it so vulgarly, I think her message to federal, state, county, and local authorities was: "I intend to do right, so please get your big hairy bloated bureaucratic asses out of my way so I can get some work done."
4 comments:
The passing of John D. MacDonald really saddened me. Not only did we lose a great writer but McGee finally came up short...
Some years later I tried to get my son interested in Travis McGee, he tried but just couldn't see what I saw in the character.
I wondered then if McGee appealed to me because of the time I grew up in?
The world has moved a long way from McGee's time, and I can see how a very young man might find him a little dull. Maybe he'll be more receptive when he's a little older and more ready to think about the timlessness of the goofy human condition, which, in my opinion, was John D.'s theme.
I, too, am a big fan of McGee and have been since the mid-'70's. I've always wondered about the title of your blog, given that McGee, reflecting his creator, detested Ayn Rand/libertarianism and trended toward the Keynesian (see Meyer).
Sometimes I wonder about it myself. For instance, John D. became a border-line gun controller, and he never met an environmental regulation he didn't like.
I think part of our affection for JDM's McGee is strictly visceral -- wish fulfillment. We don't want to go to dinner with Travis, nor elect him to office, nor attend a seminar he's chairing. We want to +be+ McGee.
Thanks for noticing.
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