wretchard, i’m only halfway through your post –no i read it once then realized what an utter gem it is and went back for a close-read. The para beginning with “Why have we become so indifferent to counterfeits?” gnaws at the sums of our fears.

i realize i overdo these Nyquist links, but i have to run this in anyway: Why Not the Truth?

here’s paragraph two:

The truth is dangerous. Who will protect us from it? Our institutions will protect us: the state, the bureaucracy, the Congress, the Office of the President. The link between truth and responsibility here assumes tremendous importance. Those who evade responsibility must also evade the truth. Inevitably, they turn to the state. Let the state be responsible, they say. Let the state signify truth. This latter point they dare not make openly, for everyone would see – in a flash – the disaster they are incubating. It is the disaster of the state as savior. The flight from responsibility, as a corollary of the flight from truth, is the distilled essence of it. Is there a financial crash? Let the government prop up the market. Are people unable to pay their mortgages? The government will pay. Are banks in trouble? The government will bail them out. Why should anyone take responsibility for anything?

(there’s more –sounding the klaxon)

About time for the New York Times to pick you guys up (the New Moralists –”Generation Improved –No More Unsightly Apologetics nor Lily-Gilding).

and the sooner the better, time’s a-wasting, so to speak.