Return to Towel Mountain
19th April 2015
Mark Steyn tries to explain why things go wrong.
One of the differences between the left and the right is that the right is forever looking for another towel to throw in. The left doesn’t do this: They push on till they win. That’s one of the reasons why, with rare exceptions, two-party systems boil down to activist left-of-center governments alternating with placeholder right-of-center governments – and why all the adrenalin rush of Tuesday-night GOP landslides in November shrivels to the cold grey morning after of bipartisan rubber-stamping for money-no-object thousand-page bills come January.
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One reason why Republicans are such losers (and yes, sometimes they “win”, but nothing changes) is because they wind up playing the game to the other side’s rules – letting the left frame every issue. Why does Jonah think it’s so brave to ask his friends to throw in another towel? You can hardly get in the ring at all for the mountain of towels the right’s tossed in there.