Life in the Fully Politicized Society, on David Foster's substack. He has written earlier versions of this at Chicago Boyz. He links to some of that in this essay.
He darts back-and-forth between modern events - a speech by Michelle Obama, residence training at the University of Delaware - and events in Germany between the wars and in the Soviet Union. It's not the same, as conservatives are wont to claim. But it's the same thing. One of my great surprises when first working in mental health was that the bleeding heart liberals, who at the time I expected to be the good guys and care more about the downtrodden than those evil conservatives, were the ones who most wanted to make people do things that were Good For Them. Oh sure, that's not what the law says, but it would be really good for Jerry to have a good long stay in the hospital so that he could "stabilisise," and then be required to go to day program five days a week when he gets out for the whole year. Jerry was 24, and would point out that day program was groups of older women complaining about their first husbands, meditation groups, and healthy eating.
Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed….You have to stay at the seat at the table of democracy with a man like Barack Obama not just on Tuesday but in a year from now, in four years from now, in eight years from now, you will have to be engaged. (bolding by Mr. Foster)
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