Sometimes a little perspective is helpful, and David Frum supplied some this morning with a tweet playing off the imminent reappearance of the Brood II Cicadas (which happens every 17 years) on the East Coast:
When the cicadas went underground, they left a thriving economy. They’ll be so disappointed in us when they re-emerge.
Probably so. In 1996 the Clinton Boom was gaining real momentum. Not only that, but Iraq was only a vengeful glimmer in George W. Bush’s eye; we had never heard of Monica Lewinsky; and Newt Gingrich was well on his way to becoming a national pariah and laughingstock whom no one would ever take seriously again.
Yeah, the cicadas have a lot of catching up to do. For East Coast birds, dogs and cats, though, it’ll soon be time to chow down on one of nature’s strangest smorgasboards.
