Why America Will Stay on Top (Paul Johnson Praises Sarah Palin, Tea Party)

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Saturday, March 5, 2011 | Brian M. Carney

[kristinn]

SNIP

I visited the 82-year-old Mr. Johnson in his West London home this week to ask him whether America has once again set off down the path to self-destruction. Is he worried about America's future?

"Of course I worry about America," he says. "The whole world depends on America ultimately, particularly Britain. And also, I love America—a marvelous country. But in a sense I don't worry about America because I think America has such huge strengths—particularly its freedom of thought and expression—that it's going to survive as a top nation for the foreseeable future. And therefore take care of the world."

Pessimists, he points out, have been predicting America's decline "since the 18th century." But whenever things are looking bad, America "suddenly produces these wonderful things—like the tea party movement. That's cheered me up no end. Because it's done more for women in politics than anything else—all the feminists? Nuts! It's brought a lot of very clever and quite young women into mainstream politics and got them elected. A very good little movement, that. I like it." Then he deepens his voice for effect and adds: "And I like that lady—Sarah Palin. She's great. I like the cut of her jib."

The former governor of Alaska, he says, "is in the good tradition of America, which this awful political correctness business goes against." Plus: "She's got courage. That's very important in politics. You can have all the right ideas and the ability to express them. But if you haven't got guts, if you haven't got courage the way Margaret Thatcher had courage—and [Ronald] Reagan, come to think of it. Your last president had courage too—if you haven't got courage, all the other virtues are no good at all. It's the central virtue."

[GVnana]

Fascinating article.

In 1848, he explains, "Practically every country in Europe, except England of course . . . had a revolution and overthrew the government, at any rate for a time. So that is something which historically is well-attested and the same thing has happened here in the Middle East." Here he injects a note of caution: "But I notice it's much more likely that a so-called dictatorship will be overthrown if it's not a real dictatorship. The one in Tunisia wasn't very much. Mubarak didn't run a real dictatorship [in Egypt]. Real dictatorships in that part of the world," such as Libya, are a different story.

Of Mahatma Gandhi, he wrote in "Modern Times": "About the Gandhi phenomenon there was always a strong aroma of twentieth-century humbug."

On the mark.

[Qbert]

“Based on your comment, I’ll have to give Johnson’s work a look. I tend to avoid modern historians, because most of them are out and out Marxists.”

Johnson’s “Modern Times” is a must read.

[Islander7]

In the popular imagination, Socrates may be the first deep thinker in Western civilization, but in Mr. Johnson's view he was also an anti-intellectual. Which is what makes him one of the good guys. "One of the categories of people I don't like much are intellectuals," Mr. Johnson says. "People say, 'Oh, you're an intellectual,' and I say, 'No!' What is an intellectual? An intellectual is somebody who thinks ideas are more important than people."

Hyper-educated idiots. Our Ivy League colleges are cranking them out by the thousands.

[Obadiah]

Johnson’s “Modern Times” is a must read.

You will not be disappointed.

[rlmorel]

I very much like his work, the only one I own is “A History of The American People” which is very well written.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Thanks for the excellent summary.

Marxism started its march in the USA in the late 1800’s, almost twenty years before the Russian Revolution. Every Democrat president since has furthered its cause. The present one seems intent on ending the slow march and executing the final takeover and installing a One World Government.

[Wonder Warthog]

Given all these recommendations, I see I have no choice but to buy a bunch of books. My “Amazon Wish List” is gonna get a workout. Thanks, folks.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the ping; post. I’ve never heard of Paul Johnson. Thanks to all posters.

Optimism BUMP!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I’ve never heard of Paul Johnson.

He has a reputation as a historian, tho I confess to never having gotten around to reading any of his books.

I was thinking, "How does he know that Franklin "invented" the one-liner?" - but then, on his standing as a historian I guess we can take it for granted that Mr. Johnson will have done the research - or else have good authorities who he knows have. The negative that one-liners were not used by anyone before Franklin just sounds like a difficult thing to prove.

But for sure, that guy Franklin was a piece of work. Not only proved that lightning was electricity - which was a big deal at that time - but was the expert on electricity at the time. He invented the positive/negative nomenclature for electricity, and he gave the battery its name (which relates "batteries" of cells to "batteries" of cannon). Then there is the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses, and a musical instrument of some interest - the "glass armonica". He also started the first lending library in America, and founded the University of Pennsylvania. And, starting from nothing more than the shirt on his back, created a publishing empire which made him among the wealthiest people in America by the time he was 40. Why shouldn't he invent the one-liner, too? I guess it's a credible claim . . .

[GVnana]

Only one problem: information age has made nations obsolete.

Unlikely, some would say...

[the invisib1e hand]

Yup. As unlikely as yesterdays news.