Weeeeeeel, you really want my essays, Joanna? Write me offlist. My reflections on all that reading boil down to a weird melange of anarchism in it's distrust of centralized power structures, a (hangover from my Roman Catholic youth?) resigned, tragic sensibility like the late left conservative, Christopher Lasch and Simone Weil, a continued adhesion, despite all the absurdities implicit in such an ideological/methodological choice, to a neo- marxist analysis of U.S. and int'l. Capitalism like that found in New Left Review and Monthly Review )just got the newest with Patrick Bond and James Petras) and a profound distrust of intellectuals ruling over the masses that have destroyed all the bottom-up, and counter-vailing democratic organs of popular power that can retrain the abuses of the Party Elites thatbrule in their name. (See Ivan Szelnyi and G. Konrad, "The Intelligentsia On The Road To Class Power, " a trenchent critique of Hungarian socialism as well as, "A Worker In a Worker's State, " Penguin Books, preface by Heinrich Boll, a work by a Maoist (!) dissident in Hungary ion the 70's now a leader in the main Hungarian party on the center-left.
All those URL's and book cites are offered in the hope that some will read them. Go to bookstore and/or library. Become as much of a nerdy geek as me! But, I trust most can form their own conclusions. If all those books that you like to read only econfirm the ideas you had when you were 20, well, I guess, a Bible Study Class, is more appropriate. ;-) The culture of the Left, as Alan wald's latest, examines (again) is one of incessant, thank Marx and Gramsci, questioning of comfortable assumptions.
Now, it's time for me to send that overdue check to Doug for the list....... and, the Devil in Ms. Jones here, just subbed to, "National (Socialist) Review."$19.95. http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/SongUnid/62AA28CC67FAADAC48256A260026DC5 C I'M A CONSERVATIVE
Iggy Pop aka James Osterberg
I used to lead a quiet life In fact it was a bare existence I passed out on many floors I don't do that any more
Hello my friends Is everybody happy? Hey look me over lend me an ear I'm a conservative
I like the small black marks on my hands I'm a conservative I like the crazy girls that I screw Hey I know them all well
And when I run out of bread I laugh All the way to the bank Sometimes I pause for a drink Conservatism ain't no easy job
I smile in the mornings I live without a care Nothing is denied me And nothing ever hurts
I got bored so I'm making my millions When you're conservative you get a better break You're always on the rigltt side When you're conservative
You walk with pride Pride is on your side Pride pride pride Is on our side Oh boy Pride is on our side
I like my beer I like my bread I love my girl I love my head
I'm in the clear man I'm in the dear Because I'm a conservative I'm a conservative I really am Ohyeslam
And it would mean so much to me If you would only be like me Yes it could mean so much to me
Hey look me over lend me an ear I'm a conservative
Michael Pugliese