Nice article. By the way, it's principles, not principals. A thought remains: representative "democracy" isn't worth saving! The anti-globalization / anti-capitalist movements, arising in the last decade, are not trying to save representative, statist "democracy" but are working for and building horizontal, anti-hierarchic direct democracy. West is an admirable intellectual and activist. But he doesn't seem to be an anti-capitalist, a necessary step. And just as "America was never America" -- "democrcacy" here was never democracy.