“I would suggest that today our fundamental political conflict is over the place of the capitalist economic system in a democracy. The right sees capitalism as the paradigm of freedom: entrepreneurs creating the wealth that enriches both themselves and the nation. The left acknowledges an essential economic role for capitalism — at least for the time being — but also sees it as a fundamental danger to freedom, a constant push away from democracy and toward an oligarchy of the wealthy. Our task is to continue with vigor the arguments about freedom that our founders began.”
…
“My proposal is that this endless, rancorous struggle for the soul of America is precisely what we should love about this country. Patriotism is not sharing with our fellow citizens some anemic idealization of what freedom means. It is a matter of engaging them — with everything short of physical violence, from compelling argument to deft political maneuvers — in the rough-and-tumble of political conflict over how we should understand freedom. This conflict remains our only way of working toward the “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” our revolution sought. True patriotism now requires not reaching across the aisle; it demands mounting the political barricades.”
Hey, super, I saw this yesterday and thought you might like to read it:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/06/opinion/rethinking-our-patriotism.html?ref=opinion
Selections from the article:
“I would suggest that today our fundamental political conflict is over the place of the capitalist economic system in a democracy. The right sees capitalism as the paradigm of freedom: entrepreneurs creating the wealth that enriches both themselves and the nation. The left acknowledges an essential economic role for capitalism — at least for the time being — but also sees it as a fundamental danger to freedom, a constant push away from democracy and toward an oligarchy of the wealthy. Our task is to continue with vigor the arguments about freedom that our founders began.”
…
“My proposal is that this endless, rancorous struggle for the soul of America is precisely what we should love about this country. Patriotism is not sharing with our fellow citizens some anemic idealization of what freedom means. It is a matter of engaging them — with everything short of physical violence, from compelling argument to deft political maneuvers — in the rough-and-tumble of political conflict over how we should understand freedom. This conflict remains our only way of working toward the “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” our revolution sought. True patriotism now requires not reaching across the aisle; it demands mounting the political barricades.”