Death of the Liberal Class

ala truthdig:

Author and Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges recently made an appearance on Canadian television's "The Agenda With Steve Paikin" to make his case about how the American liberal class and its institutions have spectacularly failed those whom they supposedly aimed to serve, taking no prisoners (et tu, Bill Clinton) and hitting on the major themes of his new book, the aptly titled "The Death of the Liberal Class," while he was at it. Then, the host brought in a few other guests to join in a debate. Both the interview and the discussion are posted below. -a.k.

Counter Point:

cul:
What a penetrating discussion - and how unfortunate that such dialogues are all but absent in the American mainstream media.

What struck me was the degree of naivete on the part of the apologists regarding the culpability and intentions of the prosecutors of the Iraq war. In particular, both Reihan Salam and Tony Keller seemed to be afraid to admit that we are as deeply involved in the inverted totalitarianism of the corporate state as described up by Hedges. Keller seemed especially naive about the goals of the vested interests that underpinned the rationales for the Iraq war. I loved how Hedges spanked him for it when he brought up his own credentials as an Arab speaker who was on the scene during the Shiite massacres by Saddam and was witness to the US duplicity at the time and after.

The single most important idea I garnered from the discussion was the idea that solutions to our present quagmires are to be found from national movements which never desire nor achieve formal political power; an excellent palliative for this horrible cynicism in me stoked by the daily news I watch and read.