At the New York Times, two letters to the editor express concern about Obama’s call for unity. What does that mean for those who might not fit in, or for those who prophetically question the declared consensus? The writers wonder if there are things worth holding onto about Americans’ often-berated individualism and what might be lost in Obama’s new politics:
We should all hope that the ideological battles of the last 50 years, with radical shifts in policy at each new presidential administration, can be put aside in favor of pragmatic solutions to the problems we now face. But solutions made by a group are not the only path to achieve great goals.
More often than not, it is a lonely “expressive individualism” that leads the way.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did it for civil rights, and Rachel Carson did it for the environment. I hope that politics in the “age of cohesion” will not stifle this kind of individualism.
Read more at the New York Times.