The news appeals to the same jaded appetite that makes a child tire of a toy as soon as it becomes familiar and demand a new one in its place.

A child's appetite for new toys appeal to the desire for ownership and appropriation: the appeal of toys comes to lie not in their use but in their status as possessions.

Environmentalism opposes reckless innovation and makes conservation the central order of business.

The family wage has been eroded by the same developments that have promoted consumerism as a way of life.

Liberals subscribe to the new flexible, pluralistic definition of the family; their defense of families carries no conviction.

Adherents of the new religious right reject the separation of politics and religion, but they bring no spiritual insights to politics.