Alexis de Tocqueville — Transition Voice

Lessons for the Great Recession from throwaway books

By Erik Curren March 27, 2013

This new trend of "eco swaps" sounds harmless enough — people exchanging stuff they don't want for other people's stuff they do want, with no money involved. Seems perfect for a down economy. But don't be fooled. The eco swap is a boil on the butt of capitalism. Just take the books-and-music swap that my wife and Transition Voice Editor Lindsay Curren held last Sunday. The promise of an excuse to finally clear out old copies of Fifty Shades of Grey (who knew it was a trilogy?) along … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Economy Tagged With: Alexis de Tocqueville, futurology, hipsters, Joan Collins

Are rich people worse than the rest of us?

By Staff Reports July 18, 2012

"Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith," said Alexis de Tocqueville, who also noted Americans' particular respect for money and those who possess it. What would the most famous non-American commentator on America have to say about today's rich behaving badly, from Wall Street banksters voting themselves fabulous bonuses while running too-big-to-fail banks into the ground to the Koch Brothers buying governor's mansions and statehouses nationwide? If he … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: Alexis de Tocqueville, ethics, rich people

The gates of Hell

By Guy McPherson April 25, 2012

In a letter to Ernest de Chabrol dated 9 June 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in? Nearly two hundred years later, de Tocqueville has been vindicated not only as a superb social critic but also as a forecaster. High anxiety Knowing nothing about de Tocqueville, the ten-year-old son of a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With: activism, Alexis de Tocqueville, apocalypse, climate change, dystopia, Guy McPherson, pollution

Smashing the melon of American complacency with the mallet of Russian grit

By Erik Curren August 11, 2011

Dmitry Orlov scares the crap out of me. The relentlessly doomerish boss of ClubOrlov.com has become famous in peak oil circles for presiding over a kind of comedy club from hell where a rabid fan base celebrates the coming fall of the American Empire under the load of peak debt while devouring posts on such subjects as the future of sailing ships and ways for dead people to send text messages. The site's sidebar lists topic tags including cannibalism, ruins and Siberia. Even Orlov's name … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Alexis de Tocqueville, American culture, Dmitry Orlov, economic collapse, Gallagher, Russia, Soviet Union

Readers and authors talk

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