Basic Liberty

Just started reading @VDHanson's upcoming @BasicBooks and came across this gem: "A related theme of this study is what Thomas Sowell once called 'a conflict of visions'—the age-old antithesis between the tragic and therapeutic views of human nature that frames Trump’s agendas. The tragic mindset entails a reluctant acceptance of man’s limitations given his brief lifespan, the predictability of human nature, the need for commonsense guidance from past traditions and protocols, and the confidence that achieving the good rather than the perfect is enough. The therapeutic school posits quite confidently that human nature is malleable and fluid, and thus the right people—with the proper mixture of wisdom, social concern, and superior education and morality—must be given enough power to create a heaven on earth. These polar-opposite visions have now advanced to such a degree that the accustomed left-right divide now permeates every aspect of postmodern America. It is in this context of irreconcilable notions of the individual and the state that the book attempts to understand Trump’s current last, desperate, often heavy-handed attempt to undo almost all the economic, cultural, social, political, and military orthodoxies of the last fifty years. He acts out of a sincere desire both to “make America great again” and to find his own personal redemption—but also to seek some sort of belated retribution on his enemies." Victor Davis Hanson "The Counter Revolution"