Not enough money or love

Wisdom of the week

[Reprinted from Issues & Views November 3, 2003]

The anti-liberal prides himself on the clarity of his intellect. When talking about the faculty of intelligence, he invariably describes it as "ruthless" or "unrelenting." Believing that he has seen through the veils of sentimental illusion, he talks incessantly about "reality" and what things cost, about the way in which deluded technocrats persist in confusing the Kingdom of Heaven with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Sooner or later he gets around to saying that there isn't enough money in the world, and he can be counted upon to draw the comparison between Susan Sontag and Barbra Streisand.

The anti-conservative prides himself on the quality of his emotions. Acquainted with a Canadian poet who supplies him with bootleg metaphor, he believes that he has looked into the bottomless wells of human sorrow. He talks incessantly about "the moral parameters" and what things mean, about Calvinism made abominable and Republicans as landlords undeservedly rich and prematurely old. Sooner or later he gets around to saying that there isn't enough love in the world, and he can be counted upon to draw the comparison between Orange County and Nazi Germany.

Given the stupidities of the American government and the inequities of the American economy, both the anti-liberal and the anti-conservative can find proofs of their worst suspicions in every morning's newspaper, and the resulting argument -- preferably loud, embellished with dark frowns and meaningful glances -- sells books, brings lecture fees, and drums up an audience for the Sunday morning talk shows.

-- Lewis Lapham, excerpt from "Notebook," Harper's magazine, November 2003.

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