BEYOND THE TWILIGHT OF REASON
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find our fate one that is the result of our arguing toward the richest
meanings of those ideas, our pushing what might not be thoroughly
thought out - or thoroughly accepted - towards its grandest applications.
Ifwe are lucky.
That is why we find ourselves in such a mess. Weare always strug–
gling toward extending the very highest aspects of the Enlightenment.
Our job is one of constantly fighting our way beyond every prejudicial
sense of the world, whether they come from within or from without.
This is the reason that race and sex have remained such complex prob–
lems in our society. We
all
have had to deal with the idea that white skin
means something far more important than a color; we
all
have had to deal
with the idea that being born a male means more than being born a fe–
male. We have also had to deal with the variety of class prejudices that
sweeps aside the idea that quality can arrive from any class within the so–
ciety. While the follies and corruptions of Marxist societies are now
obvious the world over, this is also ice-cold fact, as I say in an essay enti–
tled "Melting Down the Iron Suits of History": "We in the United
States, which is the most successful commercial culture in the history of
the world, maintain a running battle with the most corrupt manifestations
of capitalism. American citizens are familiar with scandals involving gov–
ernment contracts, price-fixing, insider trading, the willful sale of
dangerously shoddy products, money laundering, hell-for-leather pollu–
tion, and the rest of it." That is one of our great virtues, that we seek out
the most civilized version of capitalism, which means bringing together
morality, ethics, and the profit motive. But our American story is the
story of working toward an understanding of universal potential, of
coming to terms with all the representatives of humanity at large who
find themselves players of one sort or another in the national tale. Per–
haps, because the realization of our ideals is such a difficult job, we have
forgotten exactly what our society truly means. Perhaps, because we have
had so many failures in social policy, we are willing to sink down into this
or that version of tribalism.
Wrong Way Wretched
of
the Earth Breakdown
What did Max Weber, whose definition of politics as the use of power you were
riffing on, say? Only those who realize how awful and self-destructive and so on
people can be and still pay dues for the privilege of administering their affairs
truly have talent for politics. Something like that. (Albert Murray,
South to a
Very
Old Place)
