For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places
Thank you Reuben for a wonderful review of the Naomi Wolf book and her excellent conversation with James last week. I am working my way through “The Bodies of Others” and am riveted.
You quote de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. The idea of America no longer being good and therefore no longer existing as an inspirational concept is a widely accepted knowledge. However I would point out that there is today a difference between America and the United States and that they are not at all the same thing. Bill Kauffman in his supporting speech for Ron Paul’s Presidential nomination as a Libertarian candidate in 2008. I thought you might enjoy this excerpt from that speech:
“Bill went for the jugular in his attack on the military-industrial complex and the fake conservatives who betray every one of their stated principles -- fiscal conservatism, small government, family values -- in order to support it.
"The only foreign policy compatible with healthy family life," said Bill, "is one of peace and nonintervention."
Bill then spoke words that resonate with all normal people everywhere, describing his "love for my own place, the little postage stamp of ground on which I and my neighbors and family live, a piece of the world which means nothing to the empire, but means everything to me."
"You can't have a healthy home and a worldwide empire," continued Bill. "They can't coexist. You can't care about Baghdad and your own backyard.
"McCain chooses Baghdad. We take our stand in our backyards, on our front porches, in neighborhood diners and sandlot baseball diamonds, and country churches, and rock and roll clubs, and volunteer fire departments, and all those preciously little voluntary institutions that are the lifeblood of this beautiful country....
"John Edwards liked to talk about the two Americas. Well, there are two Americas: the televised America, known and hated by the world, and the rest of us. Their America has shock and awe, but it has no heart, no soul, no connection to the thousand and one little Americas that produced Mother Jones and Laura Ingalls Wilder, Dizzy Dean and Booker T. Washington.
"I am of this other America. This unseen America. It is a smaller, homelier, peaceful country.
"And this alternative America is reasserting itself.
"In farmers' markets, in home schools, in book clubs, in the buy-local and eat-local and home-brew movements -- even at the polling places, where over one million people voted for Ron Paul for president of these United States."
Best wishes - am enjoying your podcast version very much.
Thanks Steven so much and for those of us who have seen the America described by Bill Kauffman, it has strengthened and inspired us. I hadn't seen this speech and I suppose it highlights the concept of freedom that was widespread in the US until dragged by nefarious means into international conflicts. Like Trump, Reagan was good in parts - but in reading various biographies, I am convinced that at the heart of his philosophy was a profound understanding of freedom (and then compromised by politics). Have been digesting your latest post which as usual has many rich and deep veins. Thanks so much for the wisdom you share and for your encouragement.
Thank you Reuben for a wonderful review of the Naomi Wolf book and her excellent conversation with James last week. I am working my way through “The Bodies of Others” and am riveted.
You quote de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. The idea of America no longer being good and therefore no longer existing as an inspirational concept is a widely accepted knowledge. However I would point out that there is today a difference between America and the United States and that they are not at all the same thing. Bill Kauffman in his supporting speech for Ron Paul’s Presidential nomination as a Libertarian candidate in 2008. I thought you might enjoy this excerpt from that speech:
“Bill went for the jugular in his attack on the military-industrial complex and the fake conservatives who betray every one of their stated principles -- fiscal conservatism, small government, family values -- in order to support it.
"The only foreign policy compatible with healthy family life," said Bill, "is one of peace and nonintervention."
Bill then spoke words that resonate with all normal people everywhere, describing his "love for my own place, the little postage stamp of ground on which I and my neighbors and family live, a piece of the world which means nothing to the empire, but means everything to me."
"You can't have a healthy home and a worldwide empire," continued Bill. "They can't coexist. You can't care about Baghdad and your own backyard.
"McCain chooses Baghdad. We take our stand in our backyards, on our front porches, in neighborhood diners and sandlot baseball diamonds, and country churches, and rock and roll clubs, and volunteer fire departments, and all those preciously little voluntary institutions that are the lifeblood of this beautiful country....
"John Edwards liked to talk about the two Americas. Well, there are two Americas: the televised America, known and hated by the world, and the rest of us. Their America has shock and awe, but it has no heart, no soul, no connection to the thousand and one little Americas that produced Mother Jones and Laura Ingalls Wilder, Dizzy Dean and Booker T. Washington.
"I am of this other America. This unseen America. It is a smaller, homelier, peaceful country.
"And this alternative America is reasserting itself.
"In farmers' markets, in home schools, in book clubs, in the buy-local and eat-local and home-brew movements -- even at the polling places, where over one million people voted for Ron Paul for president of these United States."
Best wishes - am enjoying your podcast version very much.
Thanks Steven so much and for those of us who have seen the America described by Bill Kauffman, it has strengthened and inspired us. I hadn't seen this speech and I suppose it highlights the concept of freedom that was widespread in the US until dragged by nefarious means into international conflicts. Like Trump, Reagan was good in parts - but in reading various biographies, I am convinced that at the heart of his philosophy was a profound understanding of freedom (and then compromised by politics). Have been digesting your latest post which as usual has many rich and deep veins. Thanks so much for the wisdom you share and for your encouragement.
I really enjoy your newsletter as a podcast and was inspired by you to try it myself… Thank you!