America Is The Longest Argument In The

But There Is Nothing Idealized Or Romantic About The Difference Between A Society Whose Arrangements Roughly Serve All Its Citizens (something Otherwise Known As Social Justice) And One Whose Institutions Have Been Converted Into A Stupendous Fraud. That Can Be The Difference Between Democracy And Plutocracy.

What We Need Is What The Ancient Israelites Called Hochma - The Science Of The Heart...the Capacity To See, To Feel, And Then To Act As If The Future Depended On You. Believe Me, It Does.

When We Were Covering The 2008 Campaign I Told My Young African American Colleagues That Despite The Historical Significance Of Victory, Barack Obama Was Going To Break Their Hearts. They Didn't Want To Hear That, And They Refused To Believe It. Eighteen Months Later They Started Dropping By One By One To Say, Sadly: "he Broke Our Hearts." A Couple Of Them Even Wept.

Charity Is Commendable; Everyone Should Be Charitable. But Justice Aims To Create A Social Order In Which, If Individuals Choose Not To Be Charitable, People Still Don't Go Hungry, Unschooled Or Sick Without Care. Charity Depends On The Vicissitudes Of Whim And Personal Wealth; Justice Depends On Commitment Instead Of Circumstance.

If Being Tolerant Of Differing Opinions, If Believing That America Has To Make It As A Pluralistic Nation, If Being Civil, If That Makes You A Liberal, I Plead Guilty.