On Right and Left

Writers on the Right and Left suffer from a similar ailment which manifests itself in different ways.

That is to focus on the many problems which afflict today's world as a way to not cover the problems here at home, in our own country; a way to turn away from their own collapsing civilization (hundreds of murders in Philadelphia neighborhoods so far this year) by trying to rescue places halfway around the globe. Dave Eggers rescuing an African; radio interviewers hyping books about Afghanistan; journalists coverage of Al Queda-- they don't see that our interference in these places made things worse to begin with, and anyway, it's not our business to run their nations and their lives. BOTH sides of the supposed debate embrace the philosophy of Imperialism which is the root cause of the problem.

THE DIFFERENCE IS NO DIFFERENCE
These ideologies of Conservative and Liberal survive by their opposition to each other. They are still playing the old Capitalist/Socialist game. They actually believe that to criticize today's monolithic monopolistic media structure one must be a crazed Leftist advocating for government control.

Yet the real ideological battle in America is and has always been between Big and Small; Federalists and Anti-Federalist; Monopoly or Do-It-Yourself.

The Cold War which occupied the minds of the globe for several decades was a power struggle between Big Capitalism and Big Socialism-- gigantic inhuman bureaucracies which were mirror images of themselves. Whichever side "won," the individual was screwed.

The real fight in literature and media today, the choice, is between tops-down institutional control, or organic art spontaneously created by free-thinking people. It's a struggle worth delineating.