A few observations that I took from this book include the following:
Washington D.C. was built on a landfill, mostly made up of swamp and corpses.
The boarding houses for the Congress members sound a lot like houses at Hogwarts.
No matter where you are, or what you do, there will always being grouping of people into “us” and “them.”
The most enjoyable part of this book is the first couple of chapters that describe what a crap-hole Washington D.C. was during this time. When most people think of D.C. now, it is flashes of large white buildings and politicians in designer suits in a hurry to meetings. The Washington D.C. that is described is not so beautiful, “Epidemics of fever were chronic, abetted by ‘several immense excavations of brick yards …show more content…
Imagine the hilarity of Bernie Sanders sharing a room with Ted Cruz. Or Nancy Pelosi living under the same roof as Paul Ryan. The difference between then and now, is it was more House of Representatives being seen as lesser than the Senate. It became, frat house verses frat house, instead of political party verses political party. The most amazing part, these people were extremely loyal to their houses (much like the houses at Hogwarts). There was one portion were the author describes a violation of an agreement, “When the election was over, as I was leaving the House, I saw [Van Rensselaer] coming to me, I hurried forward to avoid him…when I got home, I ran up in my own room, but had not been long there when he followed, he came in, he looked wretchedly, tears were running down his cheeks, ‘forgive me, McClean,’ said he, stretching out his hand…A similar scene took place with V.B. [Van Buren] and the other gentlemen of the mess, we let him continue with us, sit at the same table with us, but we do not speak to him. He is beneath anything but contempt…He was betrayed those with whom he broke bread” (page 105). Everything about this could have been describing Ron Weasley betraying Harry Potter by voting with Slytherin on an issue. This sorting into houses created conflict within the political
Washington D.C. was built on a landfill, mostly made up of swamp and corpses.
The boarding houses for the Congress members sound a lot like houses at Hogwarts.
No matter where you are, or what you do, there will always being grouping of people into “us” and “them.”
The most enjoyable part of this book is the first couple of chapters that describe what a crap-hole Washington D.C. was during this time. When most people think of D.C. now, it is flashes of large white buildings and politicians in designer suits in a hurry to meetings. The Washington D.C. that is described is not so beautiful, “Epidemics of fever were chronic, abetted by ‘several immense excavations of brick yards …show more content…
Imagine the hilarity of Bernie Sanders sharing a room with Ted Cruz. Or Nancy Pelosi living under the same roof as Paul Ryan. The difference between then and now, is it was more House of Representatives being seen as lesser than the Senate. It became, frat house verses frat house, instead of political party verses political party. The most amazing part, these people were extremely loyal to their houses (much like the houses at Hogwarts). There was one portion were the author describes a violation of an agreement, “When the election was over, as I was leaving the House, I saw [Van Rensselaer] coming to me, I hurried forward to avoid him…when I got home, I ran up in my own room, but had not been long there when he followed, he came in, he looked wretchedly, tears were running down his cheeks, ‘forgive me, McClean,’ said he, stretching out his hand…A similar scene took place with V.B. [Van Buren] and the other gentlemen of the mess, we let him continue with us, sit at the same table with us, but we do not speak to him. He is beneath anything but contempt…He was betrayed those with whom he broke bread” (page 105). Everything about this could have been describing Ron Weasley betraying Harry Potter by voting with Slytherin on an issue. This sorting into houses created conflict within the political