tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6476868488396853824.post5076436674047196827..comments2023-06-17T15:46:23.163+01:00Comments on Woodbrooke Good Lives Blog: 'Consumption' or 'Consumerism' ?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6476868488396853824.post-35491567742738985142009-10-30T21:27:30.801+00:002009-10-30T21:27:30.801+00:00After writing (above) that I find Etzioni hard to ...After writing (above) that I find Etzioni hard to 'read' in the context of UK left/right political understanding, I emailed a friend who lives near Berkeley, California, to ask her about him. Here's what she sent back:<br /><br />Wikipedia has a good piece on 'communitarianism'.<br /><br />Some people here do think Obama is extreme left-wing. I don't get it. We are getting increasingly polarized (almost viciously). I am beginning to think that the left-right continuum is a less appropriate way to think of the US political spectrum. Maybe it is <br />more star-shaped, with people at the tips of the stars armed with pitchforks and torches. What we think of as real political differences seems to be more like strange stances shaped by exaggerated fear, suspicion and anger. US experience of the left-wing is very muted....for instance, someone like Ken Livingstone, no way could he be politically active over here. My Canadian cousins visited last weekend. They laugh about the US snarl around health <br />care. Their understanding is that our system is made to prevent the President from taking action. Also, they stayed in a B&B in Berkeley. On an early morning walk, they were appalled to see homeless people within the first 5 minutes of their walk.Woodbrooke Good Lives Projecthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08924880899776322830noreply@blogger.com