Ideas
-
Much Madness
Much madness is divinest senseTo a discerning eye;Much sense the starkest madness.’T is the majorityIn this, as all, prevails.Assent, and you are sane;Demur,—you ’re straightway dangerous,And handled with a chain. (Emily Dickinson, "Much Madness") Since One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, it's been something of a cliche that the crazy people are sane and the
-
Elitism and the American Equality Ideal
People in Red America are in pain, and it's deeper than just economic. I'd argue that a good deal of the pain comes from the disjunction between its mindset and the real world in which Red America lives. The world no longer makes sense for a mindset that was developed in the early 19th century.
-
Quote of the Day: John Taylor of Caroline
"Wealth, like suffrage, must be considerably distributed to sustain a democratick republic; and hence, whatever draws a considerable proportion of either into a few hands, will destroy it. As power follows wealth, the majority must have wealth or lose power." . . . Taylor named two threats to the natural economic order, "two modes of
-
Tea Party at the Mall
Liberal and rationalist Steve Benen asks what do these people want? He can't figure it out, but I don't think it's that difficult. They want the United States to be what it was before the Civil War. I don't think it's primarily driven by racism; racism is a part of it because that's the way