(no subject)

[LeoCasey at aol.com]

<< I can't fathom why you and Justin persist in kowtowing to the non-existent 
intellectual splendor of these grubby opportunists. >>

Speaking solely for myself, I find it valuable to look for serious contrary 
views -- the strongest argument in opposition to where I stand -- on which I 
can hone my own argument. If all I ever converse with is people who agree 
with me, what I am going to learn? People who have been through the left 
generally know the arguments I want to make.

And once you know the history of American radicalism, it is amazing how many 
leading American social thinkers, from the Seymour Martin Lipsets and the 
Daniel Bells to the Will Herbergs and Hannah Arendts, came out of the left. 
Once doesn't even have to descend into the dregs of neo-conservatism, with 
the Irving Kristols and Getrude Himmelfarb, to make this case; I would not 
want to have to argue that Kristol is very smart. But the best thinkers come 
out of the left. Even Justin's Judge Posner comes out of a red diaper family.

And there is an idea connection, as well.  You look at something like the 
theory of 'managerial revolution' popularized by James Burnham in his right 
wing, post-Trot phase, for example, and what do you find but a popularized 
version of the 'bureaucratic collectivism' thesis he developed with Max 
Shactman.

Speaking of all this, I was happy to see Jeffry Issac's essay on Tony Giddens 
in the latest issue of _Dissent_, because he actually takes grapples with 
Gidden's 'third way' arguments, as opposed to just dismissing him for being 
an apostate. The only authors I have read that do this are Issacs and Chantal 
Mouffe. I recommend them both.

Leo Casey
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)

Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never has, and it never will.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who 
want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and 
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
-- Frederick Douglass --




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