July 28, 2012 5:15pm

Possessive individualism has thoroughly routed civic republicanism; hucksterism has vanquished virtue; a mindless commitment to economic growth has rendered the ideals of simplicity, balance, and voluntary renunciation all but unintelligible as guides to public policy rather than merely to individual salvation. It is too late for a happy ending.

George Scialabba, “Plutocratic Vistas,” in the Los Angeles Review of Books.