He was also a Marxist when he was very young, and his book on the topic was one of my primers. I'd recommend it strongly - he explains the topic patiently and methodically and refrains from criticism until the last chapter. Brilliant work.
And he knows the topic well:
Fabian socialist George Bernard Shaw included the working class among the "detestable" people who "have no right to live." He added: "I should despair if I did not know that they will all die presently, and that there is no need on earth why they should be replaced by people like themselves."
Marxism is, after all, intensely elitist. From its very inception it was a remedy for a problem that solved itself, recommended for a class of people that rose from illiteracy and immiseration, by another class of people who wanted nothing more than a skim from the top and fame for having been clever enough to fool the crowd. That would be Lenin's "cadre" and every politician on the Left has been aspiring to membership since it was first identified.
And they do aspire. We have, between Hillary (Yale), Obama (Harvard), and his wife (Princeton) three Ivy Leaguers convinced that far from being privileged, they succeeded through a struggle against a continuum of racism and sexism and hence are the proper leaders for the rest of us, whose benefit from Whiteness and the Patriarchy has somehow failed to produce Ivy League sheepskins on our walls. These folks absolutely believe this. If their contempt and disdain is returned to them doubled it isn't really anyone's fault but their own.
Interesting post, thanks. I didn’t know he was short listed and I don’t blame him for withdrawing for health reasons. There’s been many people speak of his not wanting to be involved in politics and his aversion to travel and of course now his age. I personally feel he did the right thing even though our country would surely have benefited from his brilliant mind.
Excellent post and a great read with my coffee. Thanks, BTD.