Blast from the Past (August 1968)
Sorting through some old correspondence and diary entries, I believe this is my very first political commentary; penned at age 18, while an exchange student in Bombay, India. I can’t tell what I was getting at. And there’s no guessing what set me off, considering I didn’t have access to any sort of media beyond the BBC World Service. Looking a few years ahead when the ambitious, contentious, and corrupt Agnew was driven from office, I could claim prescience, but won’t...
August 14, 1968 (Bombay, India)
At this time a short comment on the actions of Gov. Spiro Agnew of Maryland seems appropriate. This man proved himself politically ambitious to the nth degree at the Republican Convention last week. I consider such an act, when the U.S. is in such a mood as not only stupid, but tantamount to treason. I cannot support such a man or a man like Richard Nixon, who offered Agnew the opportunity. It may go to prove that all the old politicians will have to fade away before we can be a healthy, democratic nation.
Thomas Knobel