If you aren’t apathetic about politics, ie you consider yourself a Dem or Republican in the U.S., then you must read Michael Tomasky in the American Prospect. It’s kind of long, so print it out, settle in, and give it a read. Premise: the uniting philosophy of a new Democratic party must be "the common good." It’s provocative, well written, and chock full of nuggets that resonate with me. I don’t often read, let alone like, the plethora of pieces being published on how the Dems can get back on their feet, but this one is great.
Then, go read Noam Scheiber’s rebuttal in the New Republic.
Where do I stand on it? Well, I’m more of an individual liberty individual responsibility kind of guy, and I doubt our pitiful trust in government could ever rebound back. (For good reason.)
“If you aren’t apathetic about politics, ie you consider yourself a Dem or Republican in the U.S.,”
Ben, there are many people who are not apathetic about politics but who do not consider themselves Republicans or Democrats. For example Independents, Libertarians, Greens, Reform Party, Constitution Party, etc. In fact, people who don’t align neatly into the vanilla and chocolate options are less likely to be apathetic about politics, since they usually have thought about the issues and have found that the Repocrats and the Demublicans are essentially the same in some very important issues. For example government spending, individual rights, progressive taxation (straight out of Marx by the way), censorship, etc.
You are absolutely correct. I myself don’t even consider myself a Dem or Repub. It was lazy!