> That confirms my long held suspicion that the US is a
> Third World country with nuclear weapons.
>
> wojtek
This is another way to think about the old question of the left about "American exceptionalism." The so-called consensus historians looked at the stability and lack of open class conflict in the US as a more or less positive feature. This was a while ago when it was possible to believe in the basic harmony of the American polity. But much of what people like Louis Hartz put forward was useful analysis. Check out his THE FOUNDING OF NEW SOCIETIES, which examines the distinctive characteristics of societies that began as colonies of European countries and which incorporated class fragments, with their own special qualities, as the founders. If we understand this better we'll be closer to a broad strategic understanding of the tasks confronting socialists in the US. Christopher Rhoades Dÿkema