Chris Hedges is going around the country doing a book tour for The Death of the Liberal Class. In December, he stopped at Powell's Books in Portland, OR and his appearance was broadcast on C-SPAN2. I happened upon the video for this appearance and, though it spans slightly more than 90 minutes, I sat riveted and watched the whole enchilada.
For me, Hedges' is becoming this generation's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His words certainly are not popular with the powers that be nor much of the liberal class itself, but he speaks and writes from a moral/ethical center that is beginning to resonate with more and more people.
One point he made, that I only recently have come to understand, is that my efforts in third party movements were misplaced. This idea that all we need is to elect "good people" to political office is naive, at best, and self-defeating, at worst. The way Hedges sees it is that the people interested in obtaining political power either are mediocre (Obama) or venal (George W. Bush).
Social movements have been the engine to protect the dispossessed. When those movements become overtly political -- many never do -- they end up throwing in their lot with the state/powers that be and end up cannibalizing their own ideals.
If you have the time, I urge you to watch some or all of the video linked above. The first 40 minutes feature Hedges' prepared remarks and the remainder of the time is a question-and-answer session. It's damn quality stuff in my book!!
For me, Hedges' is becoming this generation's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His words certainly are not popular with the powers that be nor much of the liberal class itself, but he speaks and writes from a moral/ethical center that is beginning to resonate with more and more people.
One point he made, that I only recently have come to understand, is that my efforts in third party movements were misplaced. This idea that all we need is to elect "good people" to political office is naive, at best, and self-defeating, at worst. The way Hedges sees it is that the people interested in obtaining political power either are mediocre (Obama) or venal (George W. Bush).
Social movements have been the engine to protect the dispossessed. When those movements become overtly political -- many never do -- they end up throwing in their lot with the state/powers that be and end up cannibalizing their own ideals.
If you have the time, I urge you to watch some or all of the video linked above. The first 40 minutes feature Hedges' prepared remarks and the remainder of the time is a question-and-answer session. It's damn quality stuff in my book!!
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