The center holds; passion falls away. That is what happened ideologically in Western Europe over recent years. Votes: 12
Europeans believe in democracy - or, at least, in republican government - but they have considered the alternatives, and continue to do so, and that scandalizes Americans. Votes: 6
We Americans really seem to be the only truly non-socialist economy on earth. Votes: 6
But Americans are different from everyone else in the world - except the Canadians, and Americans are more different from the Canadians than they often think. Votes: 3
Our culture is teleological-it presumes purposive development and a conclusion. Votes: 3
The achievement of nationhood is a product not only of time and circumstance but usually of war and suffering as well. Votes: 3
The problems of elites is an old one for which Americans have found no solid answer. Votes: 3
Foreign policy deals across time as well as space. Votes: 2
America's problem is how to free itself from the grip of it's exhausted ideas. Votes: 0
For four hundred years European civilization has dominated the world - for better or for worse. It is convenient, and flattering, for Americans to assume that this is all over; but it very rash to do so. Votes: 0
It is one of the perceptual defects of Western government and press to assign Western-style motives to what people do in non-Western societies, as if these are universally relevant. Votes: 0
The accounts that history presents have to be paid. Past has to be reconciled with present in the life of a nation. History is an insistent force: the past is what put us where we are. the past cannot be put behind until it is settled with. Votes: 0
The moral spectacle of capitalism still offends, as does American capitalism's implacable insistence that the market determine value even in the political, intellectual, and artistic spheres. Votes: 0
The truth is that history constantly presents new problems in the guise of old. Votes: 0