http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3977/citizen_gore_vidal
You can say what you like about Gore Vidal’s politics (and I imagine anyone to the right of, say, Marx will) , but there’s no arguing about the quality of his writing. I’ve never been so elated to read something that makes me feel so depressed.
We’re not very good at being Sparta. We’re not very good at the military virtues or even the merits. I think we will get out of it when we are eating the grass growing in the streets of our cities, and loving it. It’s the only nutrient we can get. There are big fads that always start when you’re about to end up eating grass. Suddenly, a lot of little ladies come out on television and say, “You will find that the hollyhock berries are very, very good.” And they’ll encourage us to adjust ourselves to penury and half-starvation.