My position is not that John Kerry is either Jesus Christ or the prophet Mohammad. My position is that John Kerry is the possibility of restarting politics.

Some versions of patriotism come close to the tribal, which we all want to surpass, and some don’t.

It's an old anarchist dream that people can take care of their own lives.

Today's global justice movement may be the biggest, most diverse and energetic in history.

The genius of the economic machine is in its ability to convert these indulgences into profitability. It converts desire into attention, a grip on our eyeballs and eardrums, which in turn can be marketed to advertisers.

So American culture is itself a hybrid and lends itself to use in other people's hybrids.

Who of us does not recognize that the life we live, however larded with brave talk about values and thought and ideals, is not actually a life dedicated to immersion in the endless torrent of images, songs, sounds and stories?