November 24, 2006
Near and Familiar or Remote and Abstract
THE FARMERS' MARKET OR SUPERMARKET?
The decline of individuality and diversity...?
THE CENTER? OR THE PERIPHERY?
Writing about the complex interplay of the local (states' rights) and national (federal power), the eminent early American historian Forrest McDonald wrote the following:
"Programmed into the human soul is a preference for the near and familiar and a suspicion of the remote and abstract."
Is that true, in your opinion?
Do you, like Thomas Jefferson, prefer the local and the familiar? Or do you like the efficient and the widespread?
Do you like the fact that you can go into a McDonald's anywhere in the world and know what you will receive? Go to a Barnes and Noble and have a certain quality control? Do you prefer the authenticity of the local farmers' market? Or do you prefer the convenience and selection of Ralph's or Von's? Or would you prefer a more diverse and "real" offering on a smaller scale? "Direct" democracy?
THE SPIRIT OF '76 IN 2006?
"There is an instinctual anarchism in the American people, and it goes back to the Jeffersonian tradition."
Posted by foothilltech at 06:03 PM | Comments (9)