Survivor!

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Sun Oct 22 07:37:55 PDT 2000


kelley:
> ...
> the claims you make are, as doug pointed out about libertarian views, the
> views of *most* USers. they are not marginalized, they are not special,
> they are not even revolutionary. they are the predominant
> views. therefore, it is hardly likely that anyone in this convo needs to
> be exposed to them. WE ARE EVERY SINGLE DAY! ...

While I agree that one runs into a sort of radical individual utilitarianism every day, especially on the Net, I disagree that this is a _predominant_ view. As a long-term member of the marginalia, I find American culture profoundly imbued with idealism, communitarianism and religiosity artfully wedded to a politics of imperialism, militarism, police-ism and class war, and it also exists in a less violent form, such as the nearly unshakable devotion of the folk to Social Security and public schools. You can easily check this out by reading those who post to CNN's message boards or at your local tavern.

A community of radical individualists would be peaceful (at least if the constituents were rational) but would not last very long since it would have no reason to provide for the common defense or future generations. Hence individualism is more a plaything of the bourgeosie and a sort of Cabbage Patch Doll to the lower middle class. It's around, it's the talk, but it's not _the_ thing.



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