"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
Conversations With a Clover….
"In honor of July 4 – the lingering spirit of it, if not the actuality – I decided to publish a 'letter to Clover' as a way to show how anti-freedom people think. Maybe 'think' is not the exactly right term to use to describe the mental processes of a Clover. It’s more a combination of primitive emoting and intellectual incapacity – in particular, an incapacity to think in terms of concepts and principles. The Clover sees something he doesn’t like, and reflexively emotes: 'There ought to be a law!' He does not grasp the broader implications of 'the law' he wants to see enacted – or he just doesn’t care, because he believes it will further some greater good – as he defines it. Dissecting the Cloverite Mentality is interesting in terms of understanding just what pro-freedom people are up against."
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I'm curious: what is a "Clover"? I mean other than a herbaceous plant (genus Trifolium)? Do people apply it to just "progressives" (politically "liberal")? Or does it include people in both camps -- liberal and conservative?
Or is it anybody who ain't a libertarian?
Is the term in use anywhere besides in this essay?
Thanks.
Sam
I'm with you, Sam. The term is new to me. I found nothing relevant in the online urban dictionary, but Wikipedia's entry includes the following "Symbolism and Mythology" blurb: "A common idiom is 'to be (live) in clover,' meaning to live a carefree life of ease, comfort, or prosperity." So maybe it means someone with a devil-may-care attitude about the expanding police state.
clover is a persons screen name, so the title is in reference to people who "think" like that person who calls him or her self clover.
By jolly, I think you're right!