I read with interest your insightful, positive, uplifting and heartfelt letter below.

A few comments:

>"...a mass psychological sickness that has gripped our country for quite some time."

While I would (& did.) characterize Mr. Sowell's comments (specifically those referenced by Glenn) as a form of 'projection', that hardly seems an adequate explanation a 'a mass psychological sickness.'

I would suggest xenophobia as a more accurate description of this 'mass' sickness, while 'projection' is merely the mechanism by which it is expressed. Xenophobia 'is a fear or contempt of foreigners or strangers.'

From wiki on Xenophobia: "[edit] General

As with all phobias, a xenophobic person is aware of the fear, and therefore has to believe at some level that the target is in fact a foreigner. This arguably separates xenophobia from racism and ordinary prejudice in that someone of a different race does not necessarily have to be of a different nationality. In various contexts, the terms "xenophobia" and "racism" seem to be used interchangeably, though they have wholly different meanings (xenophobia being based on place of birth, racism being based on genetic ancestry). For example: to dislike a black person from France because they are French is Xenophobic, but if one does not like them because they are black, it is racism.

For xenophobia there are two main objects of the phobia. The first is a population group present within a society, which is not considered part of that society. Often they are recent immigrants, but xenophobia may be directed against a group which has been present for centuries. This form of xenophobia can elicit or facilitate hostile and violent reactions, such as mass expulsion of immigrants, or in the worst case, genocide

The second form of xenophobia is primarily cultural, and the objects of the phobia are cultural elements which are considered alien. All cultures are subject to external influences, but cultural xenophobia is often narrowly directed, for instance at foreign loan words in a national language. It rarely leads to aggression against [individual] persons, but can result in political campaigns for cultural or linguistic purification. Isolationism, a general aversion of foreign affairs, is not accurately described as xenophobia. Additionally, in the world of science fiction, xenophobia may refer to a fear or hatred of extraterrestrial cultures or beings."

Anyway, for what its worth, I thought this a fairly accurate description of our 'mass sickness' wrt 'foreign affairs' in general nowadays. (*also, I'm from a third world country - eastern ky. - and, therefore, feel i have some unique experience with the effects of mass xenophobia.)

>"...began to accelerate in the 80s ... acquire as much wealth as possible."

greed - to want something more - is good. ...depending on what one wants more of. To 'acquire as much wealth as possible' (ie. without regard to) could be called selfishness by extreme prejudice.

regards,

bah.