>it broke down in Hymietown, so to speak. Jesse
>was not quite all that he appeared to be. Wills
>presents this process as a major illustration of
>the positive power of Christianity at its best.
>By contrast, Reed's political framework, keeping
>in mind that politics is about persuading and
>mobilizing others, shows up as sterile, narrow,
>impersonal, and marginal by comparison.
Dear Mad Max, What is sterile, narrow and overly personal (i.e., charismatic in the Weberian sense) is the reduction of the autonomous activities of the working class and oppressed to an electoral campaign in the service of a demagogue with quasi- dictatorial control over the aims and contents of that campaign. No wonder you are not against religion; your idea of politics is basically religious. The beginning of all criticism is indeed the criticism of religion. best, rakesh