Blog Watch: WB, individualism, healthcare

On the Road to Damascus...: Individualism in the eyes of Wendell Berry.

Berry continues on for two additional stanzas [of "The Mad Farmer, Flying the Flag of Rough Branch, Secedes from the Union"] and if you have a moment sometime, you should find the rest of his poem and read it for yourselves. It's quite remarkable. The most remarkable thing about it, however, is its demand for us to move away from this nonsense that "individualism" means that Americans should only look out for themselves and for nobody else. We must dismiss the notion that is promulgated by the Glenn Becks and Bill O'Reillys of the world that we can be charitable if it suits us--or we can care about our neighbors if we like them and they are nice to us--or just because the founding principles of our country declare life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all people doesn't mean that we should work for equality for all. READ MORE ...