One of my neighbors is Ganesh, an excellent fellow. He would be that rarest of creatures, an intelligent American swing voter, except that he’s from India and lives in Montreal. He’s been following the US election and has decided he’s rather more impressed by Obama than by McCain and that this Palin person really does not seem up to the job. Even so, my feelings on the subject leave him a bit bemused.
“Yes, but all politicians lie,” he offered after I had been going on a while. He had reason to regret that, because it triggered the following story.
The great communist Leon Trotsky was in exile, living in Mexico, and intellectuals from the United States flocked down to see him. One was Dwight MacDonald, a brilliant man but also a know-it-all and loudmouth.
One day Trotsky was sitting in his study, thinking about the world revolution. An aide approached him and asked if MacDonald could gain admittance. Trotsky said no: Comrade MacDonald was a fool and today he was in no mood for fools.
“Comrade Trotsky,” the aide said, “you tell us all men are fools.”
“Yes!” Trotsky said. “Yes, all men are fools! But Comrade MacDonald abuses the privilege.”