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Both on the historical issue of the extent of the American founders’ indebtedness to classical antiquity, and on the normative issue of the value of the classical legacy, I think we’re all agreed that it’s a complicated mix. So what I have to offer in this comment is not really a bold salvo of any sort, but just a few observations and quibbles.
C. Bradley Thompson rightly points to Jefferson’s and Adams’s skeptical attitude toward the merits of Plato as a political thinker; but I don’t think we should infer from this that the influence of the ancients upon the founders lay mainly in the ethical rather than in the political sphere. For most of the criticisms that Jefferson and Adams make of Plato’s
On Jan. 6, the United States became a different, less exceptional nation.
The riotous invasion of the Capitol was shocking, if not surprising, and it shattered the proud assertion of America’s special status as the only nation on earth always to peacefully transfer power from one political party to another.
Helping Americans come to terms with that loss will require rethinking the way we talk about ourselves as well as what patriotism entails. Going forward, our political leaders need to recalibrate the rhetoric they use to describe this country and the words with which they rally citizens to service and sacrifice.