Rem actam agis

You do something already done. The beauty of Latin texts is the economy of words. Rome on HBO. Talkative and with British accent. Latin du jour - vulgar....Rome actam agis.

Masterbuilder?

Watched Caro on C-span talking at MCNY about Robert Moses. Caro was asking how could an unelected person yield so much power. Undemocratic. But the title of his book is the Power Broker , correctly implying that Moses was only a conduit of power. Not power itself. Moses, no doubt had his own weight, but mostly was only allowing projects be done for those actually elected. He knew how to control or squeeze the sources of money. To spend the money you need big projects. Public works to improve the economy was the mantra of the New Deal. Moses was just finding what projects were worthwhile. He was projecting honesty and was trusted to understand the “public good”.

Of course power corrupts and forty years is too much. You start to believe to your own legend and infallibility. This happened to Caro also. His arguments went unchallenged for too long a time. Half a million displaced persons is a nonsense. Caro argues that the plight of those who suffered because of these projects needs to be heard. But is it democratic to have projects advancing the common good stopped by the few who are affected? Was eminent domain invented by Moses? Could Moses have demolished so much without strong political support? Of course not. Caro’s argument becomes thin. In fact it represents the recent history where any public work is blocked by special interests posing as victims.

The “Fall of New York” is placed on Moses lap by a very thin argument – when Moses left power, the city was in free fall. Did the burning of the Bronx result from Moses’ projects? Not so fast… What about now when New York is doing fine? Is this due to Moses? Not so fast also….

perpetum

An old Vietnamese saying goes like this - If you dispute a bright man you will lose fast, with a stupid you will fight forever. Sounds deep, but let's examine. If I am a bright man I will dispute forever the idiots, if I am a very stupid man I will also fight without end.Doomed to dispute...Of course, even a wise Vietnamese saying.

Had to delete and repost this ....Perpetum ...an unlucky title...