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Originally Posted by Seaver
No offense taken, but I do listen all the time when people have to say what I dont like. It helps understandings on both parts, and I'm a very liberal conservative (if that makes sense). But people who are angry just to be angry and lash out just to be heard should be taken with a grain of salt. If he had a valid argument against Bush (there are tons, and I support the man) by all means take it, but dont throw out horseshit and expect people to bite into it.
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Seaver, he wasn't throwing out horseshit; you just didn't know what he meant by "civic culture" and interpreted it according to your experiences. The latter part of the sentence clarified it fairly well for me, even had I not known what he was referring to.
actually, rather than just leaving it at that, I'll fill in some of the gaps so you can make a more informed decision about whether this man has been to Texas.
The countries he listed have huge disparities between the richest elites and the next step down--the poverty ridden slums. There is no middle class. Think castles on the hill overlooking ghettos. Civic culture refers to the political culture and noblesse oblige is the belief that the rich and privaledged are obligated to help those less fortunate then themselves. He's making an argument that the nobility in Texas, like those other American nations he listed, seek to secure their class interests without heed to the damaging long-term effects it has on the economy and political culture--e.g., the loss of legitimacy of the capitalist system that everyone should be benefitting if it's going to keep rolling.