Federalism means inequality

Abstract

circlement of the United States by Russia. Once the Soviet model was rejected by most socialists in the Western world, socialism became a kind of romantic movement in that it embraced a dream of an egalitarian society without any model on earth to guide it. To that extent, socialism could become an inspiration without being a threat, but this was no cure for the American disease. Despite a clear demonstration in American history that the environment was not hospitable to socialism, and despite an equally clear demonstration based upon the experience of the Western social democracies that socialism is not even a threat to capitalism, the American anxiety continues unabated. Whether it will abate as conditions actually become more favorable toward the emergence of socialism is a question that can hardly be answered at this point but nonetheless deserves serious speculation. [] READINGS SUGGESTED BY THE AUTHOR: Bums, James MacGregor. The Vineyard of Liberty. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1982. Huntington, Samuel P. Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968. Kammen, Michael. People of Paradox. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. Sombart, Werner. "Study of the Historical Development and Evolution of the American Proletariat." International Socialist Review 6 (1905-06). Sombart, Werner. "American Capitalism's Economic Rewards." In John Laslett and S.M. Lipset, eds. Failure of a Dream? Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday-Anchor, 1974.