The usual concept of altruism–that giving is truly generous only when the giver gains absolutely nothing from the act of giving–is a cynical rhetorical move to justify the primacy of self-centered behavior. In addition to those-things-that-are-mind-but-not-yours, and those-things-that-are-yours-and-not-mine, there are also those-things-that-are-mine-only-insofar-as-they-are-yours-too.

In fact, human life only persists because of these common goods–the biosphere and language among them. Therefore, any revival of civic virtues–or civil society, public intellectuals, or “the commons”–must be based upon a full appreciation of just these common goods. Even more, it must be based upon the advocation of these common goods over against their commodification as “yours” and “mine,” as competing interests jockeying for position in the corporate nation-state.

“Yours” and “mine” have Karl Rove. What do we have? A rejection of irony in favor of ernestness is not a promising start. Lamentation does not a vision make.