Today we have a video interview with Ronald Wright, author of What Is America? and A Short History Of Progress. Being Canadian, Wright has no illusions about American exceptionalism. Here's the introduction.
America — the world's only superpower, but how did it get there?
In a provocative new book, Ronald Wright contends that right from its start as a frontier society, America has used militarism and religious extremism to expand and prosper.
The video is rather long (27:20) but doesn't disappoint. Wright stumbles a bit at the end as he talks about our hopes for the new Obama administration, saying that America is ripe for the sort of transformation we saw under Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s. (The video was uploaded in March, 2009.)
I'm sure Ronald won't make that mistake again
Perhaps Hopey-Changey's greatest legacy will be that he enabled a critical mass of Americans to see clearly for the first time (even though the evidence was crystal clear long before his presidency) that the two party system is a mindless distraction at best, and, specifically, that the Republican Party and Democratic Party are simply two arms of the same corporate party that controls the United States. What exactly are the substantive differences between a Pontiac and a Buick?
No doubt, the Hopey-Changey Administration is a key factor in the rise of the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
So in terms of lasting legacy, Hopey-Changey has certainly made his mark.
Posted by: John Andersen | 12/25/2011 at 08:19 AM