Carlo wrote:

>My post was 'perhaps', Wei, more geared to prompt some recognition on
>your part of your Pollyannish views on democracy--Athenian and American.

What were Pollyanna's views on democracy?  I could possibly determine the
precise meaning of your statement if you could specify which aspect of my
view clashes with yours.

Of course the main issue might be why Pound rejected democracy?  Inevitably
our personal views of such issues become enmeshed in the analysis.  But am I
to infer from your remarks that you despair of any possibility of democracy
working; that you do not believe that the Athenian contribution to the
development of representative government was consequential, and that America
has nothing to learn from studying it?

I gather you are highly critical of American democracy in its current form
(I certainly am, and we may share certain convictions on this point).
Pound's solution was to reject the US system in favor of a LESS, rather than
a MORE, democratic form?  In what senses might you agree with Pound, and in
what ways might you suggest that the problems facing the US system are
remediable?

Regards,

Wei


________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com