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Or: Why Bernie might as well give up now

Socialism is a term that is too broad to be especially useful, but it has some meanings that are significant to U.S. politics. In its broadest sense, socialism is an economic system that is democratic; that is, operated by the people involved. Democracy is rule by the people, in contrast with republican government in which the people elect representatives, aristocracy in which an elite rules, monarchy in which a single ruler runs things. Here ...

I have read a few items recently that suggest that many people think that Americans are obsessed with guns, firearms. That idea is mistaken. While there are some people who love guns more than is reasonable, Americans have no particular affection for guns; they reserve their love for people who might appreciate it, rather than having love for inanimate objects.

Comments about Americans being gun crazy usually come out shortly after some mentally unbalanced person has slain several ...

Cynicism

1. An inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest; skepticism.
"Public cynicism about politics"
Synonyms: skepticism, doubt, distrust, mistrust, suspicion, disbelief.
pessimism, negativity, world-weariness, disenchantment

2. A school of ancient Greek philosophers, the Cynics.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us...glish/cynicism

I will confess ...

I noticed that this is Banned Books Week, so I looked at the ALA (American Library Association) website to see what they have about it. http://www.ala.org/bbooks/ It includes lists of banned books, and it brought tears to my eyes. For the decade 2001 – 2010 the Harry Potter series leads the list as the most banned in the U.S. I only read the first four, so I don’t know how good the rest are, but the ones I read were very good. It isn’t literature for the centuries, but it’s better than the Hardy ...

I am taking a course called literature and medicine, the professors have a literary background but they teach a course similar to this one for medical students too and now they are bringing this to us MA literature students. I really enjoy the class and I find the whole thing very, very interesting. But some of the books I have been reading have a let's say difficult impact on me. One is by an author from the ice and is about the time her husband was diagnosed and died from a brain tumour. She describes ...