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Introduction: At the End of an Age; the Beginning of an Age
Marshall McLuhan was by training and temperament a paragon of the 20th-Century, text-centered, literary man. A less likely prophet of post-literate culture is hard to imagine.[1] But in the fifties and sixties he understood better than anyone what was happening to the collective psyche because of the huge impact of electronic technologies on human consciousness.…
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Why Liberalism Can’t Get It Done I
[Ed. I'm reposting this piece from 2007 in response to Patrick's pointing me to an interesting lecture by Patrick Deneen. I think it reinforces and expands on the basic points that Deneen makes.] I have some important differences with Christopher Lasch, but I'm 95% in agreement with his basic understanding about what's happening to us…
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Torture and Vengeance
I hear Bill Kristol is ok with investigating and prosecuting torturers so long as we throw in some Democrats. Well, yeah, if Dems are implicated in the design and implementation of this policy, they, too, should be held accountable. If it can be shown that Dem leaders signed off on this, they should, indeed, be…
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Do Nothing or Do Something
. . . and if something, what? In my effort to understand what's going o I've been paying attention to Simon Johnson, Jamie Galbraith, and Paul Krugman–all of whom think the Geithner plan doesn't go far enough. But I've also started reading Brad DeLong, a Berkeley econ professor and former Clinton Treasury official, who agrees…
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Quote of the Day: W. B. Yeats
The abstract is not life and everywhere draws out its contradictions. You can refute Hegel but not the Saint or the Song of Experience. [From a letter to Lady Elizabeth Pelham]
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Which Side of History Are You On?
I've been thinking about the American Civil War and its tragic aftermath in recent weeks. I don't know whether our history is a source of hope or a source for despair. What's amazing about American history is how often the bad guys won in the courts in the state legislatures and in Congress. How in…
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Where Are We Going?
I don't feel much of a need to comment on the Obama transition. I don't have a particular template to impose over this process to evaluate whether things are going well or poorly, and I have no interest in decoding every move as some augury of the administration to come. The country's electing Obama was…
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Through a Glass Muddy…
Even in the muckiest mud, seeds left to us from past moments of verdant growth lie hidden, and we should not be too surprised at some point some of them germinate. A cultural springtime is part gift, but also, because culture is always a human artifact, part effort and human imagination. We have to work…
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A Conservative Libertarian Case for Obama
Radley Balko at reasononline While I'm not thrilled at the prospect of an Obama administration (especially with a friendly Congress), the Republicans still need to get their clocks cleaned in two weeks, for a couple of reasons. First, they had their shot at holding power, and they failed. They've failed in staying true to their…
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Capra and the Ownership Society
Ross Douthat and Patrick Deneen have interesting takes on the significance of Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" as it relates to the current over-reaching in the credit markets. In a couple of post I've written, I've argued that this movie is a fairy tale that depicts an archetypal conflict between the left and right wings…