Sometimes there are better op-ed type comments in other parts of the newspaper than there are on the opinion pages.
In the April 10 Variety, Chris Welsch conducted "A free-wheeling conversation with poet Gary Snyder."
Welsch asked Snyder: "Poet Charles Simic recently wrote about what he called the "New American Pessimism," a sense that our big problems can't be solved and that we're unable to act together to address them.
What's your take on the current political situation?"
Snyder answered: "It's a strange time we're in, in a way. A segment of the American population that didn't have a voice -- because it wasn't smart enough -- now does have a voice; it's a self-destructive and ignorant way of thinking that doesn't grasp how much the American mode of infrastructure that supports business, transportation and education is an indispensable part of government and that makes the country as great as it has been. It's the Grover Norquist school of thought, that somehow we'll be better off not paying taxes for those things. ... There's not much we can do but watch it play out."
It could not more be succinctly said.
Need I say more?
WALTER GRIFFIN, Edina
