Discounting for a moment the appeal to the leader of a revolutionary army in making an appeal for TEA Partiers to take fewer risks and fight smarter, let’s just take a quick look at the premise, as summarized in an email I received: ICYMI, my new Washington Post column “The Tea Party needs a General Washington.”  Washington refused to send his troops on suicide missions, picking smaller, winnable fights instead,

Just a suggestion:  next time we hire a Chief Executive, let’s try to make sure he or she has at least a discernible record of life experience outside of mau-mauing the flak catchers or dreaming of his or her fucking father. I mean, pick up a wrench or change a tire, for Chrissakes! Trust me: things will run a lot more smoothly this way. You’re welcome. (h/t nr)  

me:  “Hi.  I would like to keep my current health care.  Is that cool?” 800 number: me:  “Also, I’m okay with my current doctor, so, no need to make any changes there, either.” 800 number: me:  “See, I don’t really need coverage for some of the stuff you guys are asking me to buy, so I’d just as soon look elsewhere, if that’s okay with you.” 800 number: me:  “So. 

That’s the bad news. The good news, though, is that they’re set to receive a better plan — in which they receive even broader benefits while paying less, which their own doctors will happily accept as part of the new health care reality — because math as an intellectual or logical currency only gains primacy under the outmoded beliefs of Enlightenment thinkers with their rigid adherence to a conceptual framework