January 10, 2012

Showdown in November: Marx or Mill?

By Arnold Cusmariu
At the Republican convention in 2008, a reporter got Newt Gingrich's attention with the pointed comment that Sarah Palin's résumé as John McCain's running mate "is not something that we're familiar seeing with presidential candidates."  Gingrich shot back: "I don't know of a single thing Obama's done except talk and write.  I'd like you to tell me one thing you think Senator Obama's done."  The reporter balked. As Gingrich the historian might have added, individuals propelled by the audacity of hope that talking and writing could change the world are found in virtually every age.  I mean the real-deal in the way of original ideas, right or wrong, not feel-good chit-chat designed to sway an electorate.  (Copies of Obama's The Audacity of Hope are now in the Amazon dustbin at $0.01 plus $3.99 shipping.)  In modern times, the heavy hitter who most dramatically exemplifies intellectual chutzpah run amok is Karl Marx. Many of Marx's most influential...(Read Full Article)