I still believe in America.... but we better start doing what Reagan offered in his farewell speech. No surprise but speech was crafted by Peggy Noonan (whom I've had a major crush on for the last 30 yrs).
Finally, there is a great tradition of warnings in Presidential farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time. But oddly enough it starts with one of the things I'm proudest of in the past 8 years: the resurgence of national pride that I called the new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much, and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.
An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties.
But now, we're about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom -- freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs production [protection].
if the miserable poles can get their act together, anything is possible. i'm not sure about patriotism after the us 2016 presidential elections. the maga nonsense is still with us. as for democratic institutions, the constitutional court is a joke, the house is a zoo and the senate is a retirement home. dunno about the independence of the judiciary state-wise. something very weird is happening in parts of montana and northern utah. and there's texas and kentucky, which we shud probably get rid of or sell to the russians. gs was fond of saying that we should do the right thing, philantroprically speaking, to support open society, even if it doesn't succeed. and it often doesn't
I still believe in America.... but we better start doing what Reagan offered in his farewell speech. No surprise but speech was crafted by Peggy Noonan (whom I've had a major crush on for the last 30 yrs).
Finally, there is a great tradition of warnings in Presidential farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time. But oddly enough it starts with one of the things I'm proudest of in the past 8 years: the resurgence of national pride that I called the new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much, and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.
An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties.
But now, we're about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom -- freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs production [protection].
if the miserable poles can get their act together, anything is possible. i'm not sure about patriotism after the us 2016 presidential elections. the maga nonsense is still with us. as for democratic institutions, the constitutional court is a joke, the house is a zoo and the senate is a retirement home. dunno about the independence of the judiciary state-wise. something very weird is happening in parts of montana and northern utah. and there's texas and kentucky, which we shud probably get rid of or sell to the russians. gs was fond of saying that we should do the right thing, philantroprically speaking, to support open society, even if it doesn't succeed. and it often doesn't