On Oct 23, 2006, at 12:04 AM, Michael Pollak wrote:
> I don't understand how claiming that left principles are the
> truest realization of American ideals is a bad thing.
A discourse of individual rights is compatible with American principles, but it's a real stretch to make them conform to anything collective (or secular). Competitive individualism seems so deeply ingrained into our common sense that I can't imagine how you'd break out of it. So much of American populism has centered on a critique of monopoly, the offense being the restriction of free competition, the unexamined virtue. It's in Naderism, it's in a lot of Green politics, it's in the anti-Wal-Mart movie, it's everywhere.
Doug