That Harper& #39;s letter, to me, is in large part from people who are unhappy that they& #39;re not leading the current conversation, addressed to the many other people they believe are also unhappy that they& #39;re not leading it.

A couple clarifications based on things people have asked: Of course, there& #39;s not merely one conversation. Of course. What I mean by that is I think some people with institutional roles that traditionally offer authority don& #39;t feel like that authority is holding.

It& #39;s also completely fair to say this, on my part, isn& #39;t a response to the body of the letter, which is mostly because I don& #39;t think it offers anything new to respond to. I& #39;m more curious about why this was done in this way right now than I am in repeating this discussion.

So yes, I entirely agree that I& #39;m answering it as a curiosity and its publication as an event, more than I& #39;m going another round at a discussion that& #39;s literally been going on all my adult life. It made me wonder about this group of folks thinking this was what they wanted to do.

That& #39;s all. I really do think a lot of smart people are trying to figure out what this moment asks of them.