Kentucky reporter in DC

[bigsky]

Says "get out of DC".

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/this-town-sam-youngman-shove-it-101307.html

[badrose]

Thanks, bigsky. That is maybe the most honest and soulful piece I've read in years. I'm gonna have to follow this guy.

[CitizenBBN]

I have to follow him and also meet him for a beer. We have to live no more than a few blocks from each other, maybe less.

I've spent enough time in DC to say that I love it and hate it. Love the cool bars and massive array of ethic food, hate the culture built almost solely on pretense and the smug belief that nothing that goes on outside it is of importance. His story is dead on, he being far closer to it than I, of everything I've observed.

[suncat05]

I was able to read the first page on my Kindle, but after that it wouldn't load anymore.
From what I was able to read and what I have taken away from comments here, it must not be a nice place to have to be. Unless you're a phony, pretentious, ideologically challenged individual who is comfortable telling lies to anyone who will listen. Then it must be phony holy land. Geez, I already dislike almost everything that comes out of there now, and then I partially read this.
Is it any wonder that Americans hate their own government?

[dan_bgblue]

Thanks for the link. That was worth the time to read. I plan on looking up his articles at the LHL to see what he has to say.

[KSRBEvans]

I remember going to college and majoring in Government because I thought I might want to go into political life and try to make a difference. By the time I graduated, all the idealism had been whipped out of me (including the notion that one could make a difference in Washington) and it was about the last thing I wanted to do. This reporter helps me remember why.

[Doc]

I have to follow him and also meet him for a beer.

You realize he went thru rehab for substance abuse, right? Going out for a beer likely isn't a good idea LOL


Reads like a guy who got burned out, hit bottom and then saw reality. I have total disdain for 99% of the elitist a that "run" this country. For the most part they are clueless to reality and the only person they serve is themselves.


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[CitizenBBN]

You realize he went thru rehab for substance abuse, right? Going out for a beer likely isn't a good idea LOL


Reads like a guy who got burned out, hit bottom and then saw reality. I have total disdain for 99% of the elitist a that "run" this country. For the most part they are clueless to reality and the only person they serve is themselves.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1)


They sell O'Douls here. :)

Besides, as my favorite T-shirt says, rehab is for quitters. ;)

[CitizenBBN]

I was able to read the first page on my Kindle, but after that it wouldn't load anymore.
From what I was able to read and what I have taken away from comments here, it must not be a nice place to have to be. Unless you're a phony, pretentious, ideologically challenged individual who is comfortable telling lies to anyone who will listen. Then it must be phony holy land. Geez, I already dislike almost everything that comes out of there now, and then I partially read this.
Is it any wonder that Americans hate their own government?

I have a lot of friends in DC. Some work in government, many do not but it permeates everything. They are lobbyists, bankers, accountants, work on the Hill or IRS or other agencies. Pretty broad range.

In some ways it's a great place. 10,000 places to go and walk. Bars and restaurants and diners and shops, you can take the metro over and hang out, find a cab whenever you want just about. It's a very social town at least among my group, people go out and get together at each others place a lot. Great history there, the museums and such are the finest in the nation if not on the Earth. They have preserved loads of green space throughout the city and surrounds so it's nothing like the concrete jungles of the other big cities, though that does make it more spread out.

But the place has a cynicism and lack of moral (not religious, just basic moral) center that is disturbing. Not stuff like gay issues etc. just this sense that this is all a game and if you really care about these things you're backward. There's a smug superiority to places like DC and San Fran and some other big urban areas that offends me.

[jgirl]

I remember going to college and majoring in Government because I thought I might want to go into political life and try to make a difference. By the time I graduated, all the idealism had been whipped out of me (including the notion that one could make a difference in Washington) and it was about the last thing I wanted to do. This reporter helps me remember why.

You were smarter than I was. It took me 5 years to realize I couldn't make a difference

[CitizenBBN]

You were smarter than I was. It took me 5 years to realize I couldn't make a difference

So many of my DC friends have come to that conclusion. At that point they either find something non-political to do (as much as is possible) or embrace the dark side and get what they can for themselves.

Personally I'd get what I could by doing as little evil as possible and try to forget about it at the Liberty Tavern every night.