Individualism, Old and New

Dewey's notes on the impact of the industrial age on artisans and politicians, written long before Etsy, Amazon.com or the 2016 presidential election, are worth revisiting.
On art: "Those who are still called artists either put themselves, as writers and designers, at the disposal of organized businesses, or are pushed out to the edge as eccentric bohemians."
On politics: "The business mind, having its own conversation and language, its own interests, its own intimate groupings in which men of this mind, in their collective capacity, determine the tone of society at large as well as the government of industrial society, and have more political influence than the government itself."
Prescient insights indeed.