More attention should be paid to New England-style everything, in my humble, regionally chauvinistic (being a Massachusetts native) opinion ;-) I just watched a C-span discussion on Emerson and Thoreau (part of a new series on American authors) and was struck again by how fresh, vigorous and accessible their thinking was and is.
America's cult of the individual has today devolved into a retrograde celebration of selfishness. But I believe that the New England Transcendentalist tradition, in which E and T were so prominent, offers a way to tap into the appeal of individualism yet avoid the constrictive narcissism that characterizes so much of US society today. Renewed attention to Transcendentalism could, I think, help to replenish a sense of basic community and even help to re-legitimize the concept of socialism as a worthy aim.
Carl _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com