Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Rich Still Love a Good Game Party

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Rich Still Love a Good Game Party

by Jamie Johnson from Vanity Fair.

The author does us a great service by keeping us in touch with our fellow Americans. I'm sure we have much in common with them. So, let's take a peek into their lives today to see what they are up to.

At about this time each year, invitations begin to arrive in upper-class inboxes for what is perhaps the most enduring of all elite social traditions: the seasonal game dinner. In elegant town houses and on sprawling estates alike, grandees are hosting feasts to celebrate the long-standing relationship between the aristocracy and open land.