American democracy has several great weaknesses, the primary one being that Americans believe that we have a "two party system".
We don't. We've just allowed two parties to take over and even fund their party elections, the primaries, with government funds, and tolerate the creation of bogus Congressional roles, such "Senate Majority Leader".
That needs reform desperately.
Amongst other weaknesses, however, is that Americans believe that we have a free enterprise economic system. We don't. We have corporate capitalism which allows businesses to escape the implications of their actions through the corporate business form.
Americans believe so strongly in "free enterprise" that they basically never vote with their wallets. They'll let businesses absolutely screw them and keep supporting them. On the rare occasions in which they actually will vote with their wallets and boycott a product it's when its something trivial and otherwise readily available, as in when sales of Bud Light dropped off over a transgender personality advertising it.
Lots of companies brew beer.
I note this as the illegitimate occupant of the White House, who has no real authority, is having the East Wing of the White House destroyed for on oversized garden shed, aka, a ballroom.
The White House doesn't need a ballroom. This isn't 1875. What Donald Trump wants is something overblown and gaudy, which is his brand, so that hopefully people remember him after he departs this Earth for his final reward. It's much the same motivation that has him angling for the Nobel Peace Prize. He's hoping to be remembered as a serious person, rather than as a real estate developer/serial polygamist.
Before we move on, we should note that the White House was originally designed as a house, and its been modified continually. Frankly, it ought to flat out stop. The constant monkeying with the structure only encourages this sort of baloney, and the building isn't getting any better looking over time. The East Wing only dates back to 1942 and to some degree was built as a cover for the construction of a bomb shelter underneath it. I suppose you can argue the bomb shelter was a good addition, but this just goes on and on.
The West Wing has been modified a great deal over time, but basically dates back to 1902. Theodore Roosevelt was President then, and his large family was busting at the seams of the White House.
This is different, however.
The West Wing was built as office space. Basically it's an office space annexation. The East Wing, as noted, was originally added to cover the construction of a bomb shelter. In later years, offices for correspondence, calligraphers and the social secretary were placed in the East Wing. It became the offices of the First Lady, with the First Lady requiring offices a fairly dubious proposition, quite frankly.
Trump wasn't supposed to really touch the East Wing Structure but a Volvo bucket is out destroying part of the facade now. The new structure will be, of course, a garden shed. . .um a ballroom.
Adding offices made sense. Adding a bomb shelter in 1942 made sense, after all, German rocket technology brought the ICBM within reach during World War Two and submarine launched aircraft actually did made land strikes on the West Coast during the war.
A ballroom, however, is a superficial structure for somebody who likes to entertain.
Trump is a superficial person who has been spending a lot of his time at the golf course.
Trump can't molest the structure unless the forces of capitalism dutifully line up to give him his dream. There was never any doubt that they would. So, have you wondered who the Vandal hired by the illegitimate occupant of the White House/Real Estate Developer/Serial Polygamist to design and construct a giant garden shed is?
Well, wonder no more:
President Trump Hires National Civic Art Society Board Member to Design New White House Ballroom
James McCrery, a classical architect who is a co-founder of the National Civic Art Society and a member of our Board of Directors, has been chosen by President Donald Trump to design a new ballroom at the White House.
According to the administration, “The White House State Ballroom will be a much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people — a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House.”
McCrery, who is principal and founder of McCrery Architects in Washington, D.C., is associate professor at the Catholic University of America's School of Architecture. He was a commissioner on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, appointed by President Trump during his first term. McCrery served alongside NCAS President Justin Shubow, who was chairman of the Commission.
According to Shubow, “The National Civic Art Society is ecstatic that President Trump selected James McCrery to design the new White House ballroom. McCrery is one of the best architects in America, and he will honor and respect one of the most beloved classical buildings in the United States. Our organization has no doubt he’ll design a beautiful, fitting addition. It was President Theodore Roosevelt who personally chose Beaux-Arts architect Charles McKim to renovate the White House in his time. President Trump has made an equally wise decision in hiring McCrery.”
Announcement from the National Civil Art Society.
The National Civil Art Society is an organization that sponsors the view that public buildings should be in a classic style. It's a worthwhile goal, as there sure are a lot of ugly public buildings around. And the architects firm, McCrery Architects, based on their website, designs a lot of nice classical buildings. Frankly, choosing them was a really good move for a really bad building. Things could have been a lot worse.
So should we rejoice?
Well, no,
McCrery clearly has a lot of talent, as do the people on his staff, but this is still a huge oversized shed that looks ugly. No matter, it'll go down on his resume, unless it turns out to be a national embarrassment, in which case it will be removed from his resume.
He's designed some beautiful buildings, including the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville, TN. To go from that, to this . . what a waste.
The contractor for the abomination is heavy contractor Clark Construction, whose website declares "Building What Matters".
M'eh.
This structure doesn't matter.
It is, however, no doubt a major contract. Nobody could blame them for bidding on it, as that's what they do.
Engineering was done by AECOM, whose website declares; "AECOM is the trusted global infrastructure leader committed to delivering a better world.".
Well, this structure and the project makes the world just a little bit worse. No matter, it's probably a big contract.
Funding for the project is not public. The $200,000,000 to $250,000,0000 vandalization will cost is going to be born by Real Estate Developer Donald Trump and donors. Donors include Google, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Booz Allen Hamilton, and NextEra Energy, but there are a lot more. Lockheed Martin is chipping in $10,000,000.
And there's the real question.
Blogger, which this is published on, is a Google thing. Google itself is darned near impossible to avoid, so even though I think they're chipping in is inexcusable, I'll continue to use Google's products, making me just as hypocritical as can be. I don't buy anything from Lockheed, and I'm not a shareholder, but if I was I'd write in and complain.
Why would outfits like these chip in? Well, they're making a bet that King Donald will love them, or at least not hate them. That's why. And frankly, if some future administration wanted to build to whack it down, which will occur, and put up a Trump Hall of Shame, they'd contribute to that.
The overall shame, however, is that this is public property. It's being vandalized. And nobody can apparently do anything about it.
When this era is over, the country needs major reform. Part of that reform needs to be an effort to reign the Oval Office into reason. Another part needs to be to kick the dead asses in Congress back to work and require them to do their actual jobs.
As a final note, Hitler was fond of monumental projects too, planning on building a monumental Berlin after the Second World War. Franco had the monumental Valley of the Fallen built, which at least commemorates something. Fascist Italy had a bunch of monumental structures built, and of course Mussolini was in power for quite some time. The Soviets had Lenin stuff in a mausoleum, the latter of which provides an idea.
Seeing as a modern White House doesn't need a ballroom, and given that Trump is really old and will pass from natural causes in the foreseeable future anyhow, perhaps AECOM can design this structure with hydraulic jacks and wheels so when that day comes this can just be jacked up, hooked up, and wheeled down the highway to Mar A Lago, which it can serve as the Trump Mausoleum and library (I serious doubt Trump has very many books that he's actually read, so the size won't be a problem). Probably Google, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Booz Allen Hamilton, and NextEra Energy will be willing to pay for it.
