[lbo-talk] Doomed

Jon Johanning jjohanning at igc.org
Wed Aug 13 14:36:08 PDT 2003


On Tuesday, August 12, 2003, at 09:40 PM, joand315 wrote:


> I like city life too, it's not nearly as insular as suburban life,
> that's for sure, but I used those examples to show that opportunities
> to express solidarity abound.

Not the kind of solidarity that will build a new society. Little Leagues are a lot of fun for the kids, but they are thoroughly capitalist organizations. In my experience, most suburbanites are so isolated in their beautiful nuclear family homes, surrounded by their beautiful lawns and gardens, that they really don't get the daily experience of living in close community. That's why the experience at my son's school I related impressed me so much -- the whole idea of a pot-luck (a simple, ordinary form of community) was apparently so foreign to them that it never occurred to them to hold one, even when it was a perfect opportunity. If they had made it a pot-luck, what would they have done -- traded slices of their pizzas with each other?

And don't get me started on suburbanites' violent rejection of any idea of sharing their wealth with their darker-skinned sisters and brothers in the inner cities via taxation or by supporting regional mass transit, etc., even though their suburbs wouldn't even exist without the economic basis provided by the cities.


> I'm an incrementalist. (I stole that from Howard Dean, but it's pretty
> descriptive of me, anyway.) One step at a time.

Given the present impracticality of revolution, so am I. But it makes a difference in which direction you're making the steps. :-)

Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ "Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others." -- Groucho



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