David Mamet has a piece in the Village Voice detailing his transformation from a self-described liberal to a self-described conservative. I take this as definitive proof of the limits of introspection.
He claims his conversion is an outcome of thinking about politics in the context of his new play, November. A plot synopsis, supplied by Mamet himself:
The argument in my play is between a president who is self-interested, corrupt, suborned, and realistic, and his leftish, lesbian, utopian-socialist speechwriter.Great! Oleanna in the Oval Office.
Mamet has been always a reactionary, and will be always a reactionary. I only wish his confession would have taken the form of his imagined perfect theatrical review:
"I never understood the theater until last night. Please forgive everything I've ever written. When you read this I'll be dead."
