We live in a culture gone mad on theory: theories of sex and family, theories of government, and, inevitably, theories of education. A debate has raged for centuries over “the future of education.”  Early American liberals like Noah Webster insisted that a democratic society needed a suitable educational system, divorced from the classical tradition that encouraged aristocracy and elitism. 

“Pollsters always lie, as we know, but apart from that, polling should be a major felony because it is based on the degrading fallacy that it is important to know what people want and that political–therefore social and moral–questions can be treated as a popularity contest.”

In this passage, dialogue between Ajax and Tecmessa, Ajax and the Chorus, Ajax and Eurysaces, the embittered hero sticks to his decision to kill himself, despite the appeals of his “wife”—she may as well be—son, and followers, all of whom depend on him.  It is a bit like the Book of Job, except these are Greeks, for whom friendship—which includes kinship—is a primary moral quality.

It is reported that Donald Trump, while his supporters were having the “million man march” in Washington, rode in his armoured car to play golf.  What would a man and a real leader have done?  He would have gone out among the  people who were making an effort and  putting something on the line for him.  And he would have made his sissy son-in-law go with him and meet some real Americans.  And he would have made sure, with military police or whatever could be used, that his supporters were not beaten up by the thugs of antifa and BLM.