Democracy – the rule of the people at the heart of the American political ideal — and plutocracy, the rule of the wealthy and the tumor at the heart of America’s political reality: both are looked on as very problematic things  in wisdom traditions both Eastern and Western. A few snapshots will serve: Jesus’ Needle: [...]

Hear, hear: University students worried about getting a job see the study of the humanities as a waste of precious time. . . . Times are hard for humanists. But when economic growth becomes the focus of education, both democracy and human decency are in jeopardy. In her new book, Not For Profit: Why Democracy [...]

On Blogging in the Late Weimar Republic Reading the headlines of Alltop.com’s “top education” sites‘ brings to mind the cover of the old Supertramp album, showing a man sunning himself in a bathing suit on a lounge chair, surrounded by grimy industrial waste. The album’s title? “Crisis? What Crisis?” Economically, American banking deregulation has dragged [...]