A small architectural itch on the White House campus is scratching at a much bigger American question: who gets liberty, who gets God, and who gets the country.
Thank you for this. At 91, couldn’t stop reading. “Enlightenment” means too little to too many. Having lived in France, walked the ramparts of Langres in homage to Diderot, been to Monticello, and being involved in WWII and politics from 1956, I was thrilled at your “columns” approach. Again, thank you.
Sorry I can’t afford a subscription. Writer of GOTV postcards, the cost of stamps in the uncertainty of the moment leaves me with only small contributions to the candidates who have no middle class left to support them and a hope to be able to afford decent food.
Please Virginia don’t apologize, really. If you were the only one reading this for free it would still be worth me doing, I mean that. The way you caught the Enlightenment thread and brought Langres, Diderot, Monticello, all that lived memory to it...that is the kind of thing money can’t buy, and it meant a lot to me, more than a lot actually.
And honestly, part of my strategy is exactly this, I try to sort out the people who do have the means to pay, so this work can stay open to people who don’t. I work for the public full time, not just the comfortable slice of it. So no, don’t carry that apology around with you. Keep writing those postcards, keep reading, and thank you for seeing what I was trying to do here.
Our White House, meaning The People’s White House, looks beautiful with its perfectly suited Ionic columns. Corinthian columns would look out of place, but the point is that it is not his property to change. It was perfectly beautiful before severe alterations, destruction, and more changes took place since he moved in. It is the job of Congress or a particular committee to protect our White House, and they need to act promptly and firmly. If he wants Corinthian columns, they can go on some property he owns, not on what our country owns.
This temporary home, permanently belonging to us, the people of the United States, is only a temporary residence, which we allow a current president to live in, only during the Constitutionally defined term. The historic committee, by whatever proper name it has, must insist that no vhdnges be made by a president such as he is trying to do. His idea is to go what he wants, no matter what. A renter taking such liberty would and should be evicted, it seems.
My first undergraduate degree was in architecture, and it is my first love. Since it’s been awhile, I had to refresh my memory: there are three column orders - Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. No need to explain the differences here other than to say columns were a revolutionary engineering feat. They were standardized under the Romans and held symbolic meanings. The Doric implies strength, the Ionic stands for balance, and Corinthian implied sophistication. The Romans also added a composite column, mixing element of Ionic and Corinthian. Ionic columns are the logical choice for the White House, symbolic of leadership that should balance many competing interests and ideas at any given time to govern well. Govern with the consent of the People. There is a line between sophistication and ostentatious (and downright tacky). That line has been crossed. Current leadership has crossed many lines. We need balance. Your essay, Exxplicit, captures the symbolism reflecting our pain in this moment of crisis. Thank you.
Thank you for this piece. You have captured the essence of the changes this administration is trying to make to our democracy through the example of the White House.
The line, among so many that jumped out at me, was "It is the quiet training of the citizen to beg." All of these actions taken individually do not get much attention, but taken collectively they are grooming us to accept authoritarian control.
As I said when I reposted this, it’s challenging for me to select just one quote as an interest pique. I have said before how much I appreciate, enjoy your writing style. However, it is the thought lines that are so amazing to me. No one but you would ever even think of a throughline line between the column issue and the degradation of our republic. Bravo, sir, bravo. …..just gonna restack again.
Thank you, thank you for this! You have given me much background for understanding what I have long recognized as the attempted destruction of our liberties and indeed our democracy.
Everything they say and do screams “freedom for me, not for thee!”
It’s true the saying, you can put lipstick on a pig and it’s still a pig. That empty vessel of a monster, (I reuse to insult a pig) has such a vast black hole that never ever will be filled. He truly imagines himself to be royalty. What a joke! His cheap dollar store gold emblazoned everywhere like the Palace at Versailles is all window dressing to cover up his ineptitude in a life lived falsely. No wonder he likes to toss around, at every opportunity ,the word FAKE. It’s because that’s what he sees in the mirror every day of his miserable and empty life.
Once again thx X, your articles enlighten so many!
I associate Ionic columns with early Greece and classical direct democracy (with all its limitations on who was a 'citizen'), and Corinthian columns with later Greece and Rome - imperialism.
Thank you for this. At 91, couldn’t stop reading. “Enlightenment” means too little to too many. Having lived in France, walked the ramparts of Langres in homage to Diderot, been to Monticello, and being involved in WWII and politics from 1956, I was thrilled at your “columns” approach. Again, thank you.
Sorry I can’t afford a subscription. Writer of GOTV postcards, the cost of stamps in the uncertainty of the moment leaves me with only small contributions to the candidates who have no middle class left to support them and a hope to be able to afford decent food.
Please Virginia don’t apologize, really. If you were the only one reading this for free it would still be worth me doing, I mean that. The way you caught the Enlightenment thread and brought Langres, Diderot, Monticello, all that lived memory to it...that is the kind of thing money can’t buy, and it meant a lot to me, more than a lot actually.
And honestly, part of my strategy is exactly this, I try to sort out the people who do have the means to pay, so this work can stay open to people who don’t. I work for the public full time, not just the comfortable slice of it. So no, don’t carry that apology around with you. Keep writing those postcards, keep reading, and thank you for seeing what I was trying to do here.
Would like to gift a subscription to Virginia. How can I do that?
Did you already give away the five you got when you went paid?
No, will try that
Your columns approach is invaluable as is your understanding of the Enlightenment. Thank you for trying to communicate to us who we need to be.
Our White House, meaning The People’s White House, looks beautiful with its perfectly suited Ionic columns. Corinthian columns would look out of place, but the point is that it is not his property to change. It was perfectly beautiful before severe alterations, destruction, and more changes took place since he moved in. It is the job of Congress or a particular committee to protect our White House, and they need to act promptly and firmly. If he wants Corinthian columns, they can go on some property he owns, not on what our country owns.
This temporary home, permanently belonging to us, the people of the United States, is only a temporary residence, which we allow a current president to live in, only during the Constitutionally defined term. The historic committee, by whatever proper name it has, must insist that no vhdnges be made by a president such as he is trying to do. His idea is to go what he wants, no matter what. A renter taking such liberty would and should be evicted, it seems.
My first undergraduate degree was in architecture, and it is my first love. Since it’s been awhile, I had to refresh my memory: there are three column orders - Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. No need to explain the differences here other than to say columns were a revolutionary engineering feat. They were standardized under the Romans and held symbolic meanings. The Doric implies strength, the Ionic stands for balance, and Corinthian implied sophistication. The Romans also added a composite column, mixing element of Ionic and Corinthian. Ionic columns are the logical choice for the White House, symbolic of leadership that should balance many competing interests and ideas at any given time to govern well. Govern with the consent of the People. There is a line between sophistication and ostentatious (and downright tacky). That line has been crossed. Current leadership has crossed many lines. We need balance. Your essay, Exxplicit, captures the symbolism reflecting our pain in this moment of crisis. Thank you.
https://www.restonyc.com/what-are-the-three-basic-greek-orders-of-columns/
Thank you for this piece. You have captured the essence of the changes this administration is trying to make to our democracy through the example of the White House.
The line, among so many that jumped out at me, was "It is the quiet training of the citizen to beg." All of these actions taken individually do not get much attention, but taken collectively they are grooming us to accept authoritarian control.
As I said when I reposted this, it’s challenging for me to select just one quote as an interest pique. I have said before how much I appreciate, enjoy your writing style. However, it is the thought lines that are so amazing to me. No one but you would ever even think of a throughline line between the column issue and the degradation of our republic. Bravo, sir, bravo. …..just gonna restack again.
Thank you, thank you for this! You have given me much background for understanding what I have long recognized as the attempted destruction of our liberties and indeed our democracy.
Everything they say and do screams “freedom for me, not for thee!”
“If I could put the people running this project under a bright light and ask the cleanest questions possible, it would sound something like this:
If you claim the Founders, why do you keep building policies that require coercion, exclusion, and paperwork gatekeeping to maintain power?
If you claim liberty, why does it keep arriving as punishment for the vulnerable and protection for the wealthy?”
BOOM
It’s true the saying, you can put lipstick on a pig and it’s still a pig. That empty vessel of a monster, (I reuse to insult a pig) has such a vast black hole that never ever will be filled. He truly imagines himself to be royalty. What a joke! His cheap dollar store gold emblazoned everywhere like the Palace at Versailles is all window dressing to cover up his ineptitude in a life lived falsely. No wonder he likes to toss around, at every opportunity ,the word FAKE. It’s because that’s what he sees in the mirror every day of his miserable and empty life.
Once again thx X, your articles enlighten so many!
I associate Ionic columns with early Greece and classical direct democracy (with all its limitations on who was a 'citizen'), and Corinthian columns with later Greece and Rome - imperialism.
Again, I Thank you for the real work you put into your writings!
The visuals are very helpful, and I also like the picture of you on the "cover"...!!