Peggy Noonan is one of those people who is always interesting to listen to. And she always seems to have something wise and useful to say. Maybe it was all those years with Dan Rather and Ronald Reagan.
Americans should not fear talking–and listening–to those whose views we loathe.
You don’t want to judge Christ by Christians, someone once said. He is perfect, they are not.
In a similar way you don’t want to judge capitalism by capitalists, or the legitimacy of democracy by the Democrats, or the vitality of our republic by the Republicans. You have to take the thing pure and in itself, while allowing for the flaws and waywardness of its practitioners.
I say this because here in America we have reached a funny pass. People are doing and saying odd things as if they don’t know the meaning of the thing they say they stand for. In particular I mean we used to be proud of whom we allowed to speak, and now are leaning toward defining ourselves by whom we don’t speak to and will not allow to speak. This is not progress.
