Theme: Our heritage (see backbone series, for instance) as the twain of old England and of our own doings (far enough away from home to learn to want to be independent).
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Quote from the review which quotes Taylor (my emphasis): On the other hand, “more than has been recognized . . . American ‘innovation’ used English models.” Those models included the pursuit of “prosperity and liberty for some” by requiring “others to be poor, subordinated, dispossessed, and shackled.” Indians died, and African-Americans worked so that some Englishmen could get rich (but others remain poor) in a new land of inequality.
- Between Two Worlds, Alan Taylor (WSJ review)
We need to get back to the series on Economics/Finance. From the get-go, capitalism creates classes. Oh, I know. The gospel for this worldview says that anyone can lift themselves (note, above, the American delusion).
It's more like this, folks, We ought to have a draft (national service - of course, being sensitive to limits [many types] that some people face) in which all get their hands dirty. And, I'm not talking what the military academies put their students through as being enough. No, exposure to down-and-dirty jobs ought to be included in everyone's little step to maturity.
Then, we could work ourselves away from the type of social bifurcations where idiots who fly on their magic carpet (internet/web morons, to boot) have no regard for the myriads of folks who clean their diapers, labor for their comfort, etc.
And, folks, it's a long litany. Reminder. As a youngster, I was into hard labor (examples - [1] also, capable of handling advanced material - in fact, in one graduate math class which I attended with dirty fingernails, having come from my laboring job, my desk mate wondered how such a person as I could score higher on tests; [2] worked with a crew out on the rail, in the summer; as in, heavy, physical crap, okay?; ..., [n] many more ...).
My favorite example of an American? Someone of old New England stock who has a PhD but who can, and does, tear down and reassemble an engine (and capable of a whole lot more).
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BTW, there are a slew of things to bring up here, including the need for peripatetic views and ways (especially for some of these clowns who are almost disembodied in their intellectual focus - to be explained). ... Don't get me going on these types (I just read of some hardball players who like to use CDS [ah, let's really look at those] to browbeat others and to fill their pockets - if you must know, look at recent WSJ articles on such) who manipulate financial matters to their advantage (the whole of the ilk that think that things like dark pools are a necessity, etc.)
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Anyway, from where we sit, we are just observing and suggesting improvements (in our own time - the upcoming 400ths will allow us to relook at the American experience, again, and hopefully get the warts more fully exposed).
Remarks: Modified: 01/29/2015
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