StephenKMackSD's Blog

In 2008 I purchased a copy of A Dictionary of Continental Philosophy from HamiltonBook.com. I am an intellectual grazer ,at times, and this offered an opportunity to indulge my appetite as a dilettante. Continue reading →

Definition : = Russ Feingold is a hero, he is the embodiment of a very specific kind of civic heroism. He has used his  voice to challenge the pernicious cult of self-aggrandizing presidential  power and the self-destructive myth of American Exceptionalism. He stands above all contemporary politicians as exemplifying the ethical as inherent to the very idea of constitutional governance, within the republican setting of tripartite power sharing. I'm quite sure Mr. Feingold would reject this notion of his being a hero but I like many of his fellow citizens, find him one of the outstanding political actors, civic actors of recent times. I hope that he continues to speak after he leaves the Senate. His is a critical voice in defense of the Republic.        

Let us boldly re-imagine, in the spirit of Richard Rorty, this maxim of the great Donne as, any persons death diminishes me, for I am human and cannot ignore my stake in the world of my fellow creatures. How would this apply to the death of Mr. Richard Holbrooke the American diplomat? His death will be old news by next week, hardly a startling observation. So, the question is when do we have an honest forthright discussion of his record as public man and American advocate? Do we engage in the un-reflective hagiography dictated by our homage to custom? For an antidote to this politically respectable chatter, this trivializing chatter, I have provided a link to Professor Stephen Zunes’ enlightening article at the Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/richard-holbrooke-represe_b_796447.html