The Frayed Ends of Sanity

I was once asked whom I would pick for President of the United States if I could pick anyone and I was able to abstract from considerations like whether he or she would play well with Congress. I rattled off a list of dead people: Dr. King, John Rawls, etc. Then my interlocutor restricted the available options to people who are alive. I half-jokingly replied, "George Carlin." Read this recent interview with him.

Choice Quote: "We squandered a lot of gifts. Human beings were given a lot of great gifts. We were given the ability to reason, this extra-large brain, walking erect, having binocular vision and the opposable thumb, and all of these things, and we had such promise, but we squandered it on goods and superstition. We gave ourselves over to the high priests and the traders, and they are the ones we allow to control us."