A frivolous society can acquire dramatic significance only through what its frivolity destroys. Its tragic implications lie in its power of debasing people and ideals. –Edith WhartonArticle continues after advertisementRemove Ads The populace may hiss me, but when I go home and think of my money, I applaud myself. –Horace At the higher elevations of … Continue reading Lewis Lapham: Of America and the Rise of the Stupefied Plutocrat