Reading my way through the magnificent Nevins' Ordeal of the Union and was struck by this paragraph" “Alongside the dominant traits of individualism, materialism, and optimism ran a fourth characteristic in which Americans took uncritical pride, their democracy. Few men paused to reflect that the four attributes were not wholly harmonious; that even in Jefferson’s day a conflict between equality and liberty had been visible. In both economic and political spheres, individualism and materialism were allying themselves to place fetters on democracy. Admiration of wealth, love of power, and the tradition of free economic enterprise led naturally to the growth of plutocracy” (p 51)How little has changed, and now we seem to be revisiting South Carolina and the Nullification Crisis of 1832.
