Ghosts of Horatio Alger

In the wake of Health Care Reform passage, Josh Marshall made an observation about Beltway group think:

I was in DC last week. And I was again struck, as I used to be when I lived there (1999-2004), by the powerful group-think that affects the place. It’s really no different than you’d see in any other company town. But it’s pervasive and hard to escape. When I was training down I read an update from a campaign watcher whose work I normally greatly respect. He clearly believed that Health Care Reform was not only a catastrophe for Democrats but that the actual passage of the bill would have no political effect. According to him, we’re on pretty much a straight line between today and the November elections.

Marshall’s observation struck a resonant tone with me, as I just returned from a short trip to LA. As beautiful as that Santa Monica sunset up there is, LA is just as poisoned by it’s Industry group think as DC is with politics (and I’m sure NY is with Wall Street and SF with tech). I was only in town for 4 days to work on a screenplay, and while the inundation of actors, producers and production assistants was interesting in the short term, I think it would have negative consequences in my writing in the long term. I’ll be sure to head back, though, when i need to escape the beltway for some political writing .