Evil Politicians! Film at 11!

[David Casseres]

[I wrote (how 'bout an attribution, Scott?]
><<  I think the real American ideal involves free 
>individualism in daily life and politics, much more than in business 
>enterprise, and on the part of actual individuals, not the corporate 
>hierarchies that They always turn out to have in mind when They preach 
>"rugged individualism.">>

>I have a feeling that the "real" Ideal being discussed here is only possible
>in the aforementioned Utopia of Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time.

Well, that's the usual thing with ideals.  You could look it up.

>The
>"rugged individualism" preached by either side of this Ideal has always been
>associated with business enterprise. That is what this country was founded
>upon.

Hardly!  First, the country was by no means founded upon business 
enterprise as we normally understand the term.  It was founded on small 
farming.  The vast majority of the people were small farmers and the 
overwhelming bulk of the economy was farming.  The small farmer and his 
family were the original model of individualism.  Then there was the 
woodsman, who explored the country, bartered with the Indians, trapped, 
etc.  The mythologization of these people and their activities into a 
Rugged Individual icon which was then applied to corporate entrepreneurs 
is the hijacking I referred to.

>How can individualism in daily life and politics be free of the
>influence of enterprise, and how did the corporate hierarchies suddenly
>become divorced from free individualism?

Of course daily life and politics are influenced by business, but 
individualism is a territory occupied by individuals, not by businesses.  
Corporate hierarchies didn't "suddenly become divorced" from 
individualism -- they never had any connection to it.

>This is exactly their problem:
>freedom (from punishment, from temperance you name it. They are running over
>every last fertile ground on the planet without fear of public condemnation.
>That 's true freedom).

Jeez, Scott, they hijacked it.  ThasswhuttI*said*.

>Hilary and Bill are parties to this corporate
>usurpation (see Alexander Cockburn's Washington Babylon for a comprehensive
>list of their big business exploits) so whatever bullshit aphorisms they
>employ have to be at the service of this "Ideal."

It seems to me you are restating my thesis with a lot of heavy contempt 
in your tone.  Is it because I didn't join in on the HillaryBashFest?

Cheers,
David