"He argues that although we are theoretically a democracy, which should empower the majority, in practice, an elite has taken over, “a government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.” ... Lapham argues that contemporary Washington looks surprisingly like the court of the Sun King of Absolutist France where the courtiers’ whole worth is measured by where one gets to sit or stand or by the bow with which one greets or is greeted. Officials in the court of 20th-Century America are obsessed with equivalent hierarchical distinctions. Who gets to ride in the secretary’s limousine? Who will occupy the office overlooking the lawn? These are the questions our officials really care about, although they hide their petty, narcissistic impulses behind socially correct rhetoric about the people’s welfare... Lapham tries to jolt us out of our stupor. He urges us to act and become engaged in the world to reclaim the democratic values that define the best of what we are and can be. ... In Lapham’s most probing chapter... he argues that although we think we want democracy, deep-down we really want kings--or the illusion of kings, or any kind of authoritative being."
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Essayists from the United StatesJournalists from the United StatesEditors from the United StatesPolitical authors from the United StatesPeople from San Francisco
Original Language: English
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Sara E. Melzer, Book Review: An American Versaille: THE WISH FOR KINGS: Democracy at Bay, By Lewis H. Lapham, Los Angeles Times, November 21, 1993
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_H._Lapham
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Lewis H. Lapham
Lewis Henry Lapham (January 8, 1935 – July 23, 2024) was an American writer. He was the editor of the American monthly Harper's Magazine from 1976 until 1981, and from 1983 until 2006. He also was the founder of the eponymous publication about history and literature entitled Lapham's Quarterly.
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