5 Responses to Gardens of Democracy – Hanauer & Liu

1. cmaukonen November 21st, 2012 at 3:57 pm 1

   This is a good intellectual exercise but it ignores the fact that most people and especially those in the upper economic strata are most interested in protecting their cushy life styles.

   I am not speaking about the elites particularly but those just below. The doctors and layers and other professionals etc. who go from their cushy gated communities to their cushy imported SUVs to their cushy jobs and back. Sending their kids to private schools etc.

   Where this is their lives and are not interested ion anything else. Especially anything that our government is doing.

   They will support who ever thy believe will protect this and are no interested in how this is done or who gets harmed in the process. Not unlike those Germans that live in the towns outside of Buchenwald or Treblinka who were willfully ignorant of what was going on inside.

   To them community consists of those withing their gated developments and the big box stores where they shop. And that is all.

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2. David Seaton November 21st, 2012 at 9:15 pm 2

   I think that is is important to change the paradigm from mechanistic to “gardening”, even if only a certain elite makes that change. In a sense it is the fulcrum that can “move the world”.

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3. Ohio Barbarian November 22nd, 2012 at 6:29 am 3

   In response to cmaukonen @ 1

   Touche’. The Roman professional classes didn’t allow themselves to believe that their Empire’s troubles couldn’t be reversed by minor tinkering and intellectual exercises, either.

   Not until they saw the Visigoths coming over the hills, they didn’t.

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4. Ohio Barbarian November 22nd, 2012 at 6:35 am 4

   Ah. You are hoping for a paradigm shift, perhaps? Do I detect echoes of Fritjof Capra’s works in the seventies that helped form the various Green political parties?

   There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, but any paradigm that allows capitalism to exist is evolutionarily non-viable because capitalism itself isn’t. I recommend Radicalee’s recent posts. It would be interesting to see your take on them.

   Because the topic IS at least an interesting intellectual exercise, you get a rec, Senor Seaton. Do you invite some of your Spanish friends over for Thanksgiving? Surely they would be curious.

   Anyway, happy Thanksgiving from Ohio. It’s a beautiful day here. Hope things are pleasant there, too.

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5. cmaukonen November 22nd, 2012 at 7:29 pm 5

   In response to Ohio Barbarian @ 3

   Absolutely. They will remain in their little bubbles until they are effected personally by the consequences of American imperialism.

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