Asking David Brooks to be correct about anything at all is like standing in front of a mountain yelling, "jump goddammit!" It's just not going to happen. It is with that outlook that I approach Brooks' column from today, which is a mix of unreferenced, sweeping generalities, and vapid falsehoods. Let's dive in!

When historians look back at the era [beginning roughly with the early 80s] that is now closing, they will see a time of private achievement and public disappointment.

Um, sort of, maybe, but...what? Private achievement? For the richest of the rich, yes, but even some of them are losing their shirts. The non-rich half the time can't afford their homes or medicine. And public disappointment? The merits of Bill Clinton's presidency can and should be debated, but he left office with an atmospheric approval rating of 65%. Bush is at historic lows every week. Yes, Congress right now has a very low approval rating, but general progressive issues, like universal healthcare and energy reform, poll very high. This is not an issue of Democrats good/Republicans bad, but when public disappointment resides primarily with one party, call that party out. The public disappointment Brooks is talking about falls almost universally on the Conservative movement that started with Goldwater, but to read his column, you'd think everyone shares the blame equally.

Companies like Starbucks, Apple, Crate & Barrel, Microsoft and many others enlivened daily life.

What the fuck are you talking about? You're such a jackass.

We're probably entering a period, in other words, in which smart young liberals meet a stone-cold scarcity that they do not seem to recognize or have a plan for.

Yeah, again, the smart young liberals are the ones who are really responsible for the roots of the healthcare crisis (Nixon), expansionist wars of aggression (Bush), financial deregulation (Reagan, and to be fair, Clinton), and casting doubt on global warming science (entire right-wing movement). Can the so-called "smart young liberals" deal with these problems? Who knows, but if someone has already trashed your house, don't hire them to refurnish it.

On this very important election day, all Brooks has is a rehashing of vapid conventional wisdom that, at its best, is idiotic tautologies ("In an age of transition, the children are left to grapple with the burdens of their elders") and at its worst is passively misleading ("Despite decades of affluence, longstanding issues like health care, education, energy and entitlement debt have not been adequately addressed"). It's not worth expecting more from him, but