But wouldn’t you love to pry a president open and swap out his hard drive?
Patrick Nielsen Hayden, 28 July 2004:
I'm increasingly convinced that the success of modern American capitalism at providing us all with niche products perfectly suited to our individual quirky selves has led us to feel, vaguely but strongly, that something's the matter when the political candidates on offer don't include options as aptly customized to our desires as our own personal Macintosh. This is a delusion, an error, and a serious threat to real democracy.
James Poniewozik, 20 September 2004:
In life, we ask TiVo or the Web or the Cheesecake Factory to indulge our slightest whims. Asking this is not selfish; in fact, it is a duty. ("Have it your way!" - was that an invitation or a command?) But under a political system devised before the dawn of the fixin's bar, we are suddenly asked to settle for those options that can please half the voters or, at least, five out of nine Supreme Court Justices. That rankles our American souls. We should be satisfied! We should be catered to! We specifically asked for the vinaigrette on the side! And so the losers grow more aggrieved in defeat and the winners less generous in victory. What is it, after all, that most aggravates Democrats about President Bush? That he campaigned as a centrist but led from the right; he lost the popular vote but governed as though he had won in a landslide. And why shouldn't he? In iPod America, every citizen - bolstered by his self-created echo chamber - is a landslide victor in his own head.
I'm increasingly convinced that the success of modern American capitalism at providing us all with niche products perfectly suited to our individual quirky selves has led us to feel, vaguely but strongly, that something's the matter when the political candidates on offer don't include options as aptly customized to our desires as our own personal Macintosh. This is a delusion, an error, and a serious threat to real democracy.
James Poniewozik, 20 September 2004:
In life, we ask TiVo or the Web or the Cheesecake Factory to indulge our slightest whims. Asking this is not selfish; in fact, it is a duty. ("Have it your way!" - was that an invitation or a command?) But under a political system devised before the dawn of the fixin's bar, we are suddenly asked to settle for those options that can please half the voters or, at least, five out of nine Supreme Court Justices. That rankles our American souls. We should be satisfied! We should be catered to! We specifically asked for the vinaigrette on the side! And so the losers grow more aggrieved in defeat and the winners less generous in victory. What is it, after all, that most aggravates Democrats about President Bush? That he campaigned as a centrist but led from the right; he lost the popular vote but governed as though he had won in a landslide. And why shouldn't he? In iPod America, every citizen - bolstered by his self-created echo chamber - is a landslide victor in his own head.