Amid grievance and despair, it’s a challenging season for believers in America and its founding principles. Most of the current protests echo the fads of postmodern academia, insisting that America is a uniquely wicked and oppressive enterprise without redemptive possibility. Much of the commanding heights of culture to some degree feel obliged to pay obeisance to this grim perspective; journalism, big corporations, philanthropies, the social sciences, entertainment moguls and personalities.
Politics merely echoe what culture produces. Politicos of the left are captive to the activists. Politicos of the right only react and condemn; they no longer understand much less try to articulate American principles. So much easier to attack the opposition with sound bites. Toppled or threatened statues are defended, but only as cultural totems. The virtues and history the statues represent are not acknowledged, much less commended.
Read Full Article »