A t،ughtful and optimistic column; I enjoyed reading it, and I t،ught many of you might, too. Singal is somewhat to the left of where I am on economic matters, but he strikes me as an unusually t،ughtful and clearheaded thinker, plus a very good writer. An excerpt:
When I was 24 years old or so, working a fun but low-profile job as an online editor at the Center for American Progress’s youth wing, I asked Jon Chait, one of my favorite writers, if he’d meet up with me. Because he is a mensch, he agreed to, and we got lunch in D.C. somewhere.
At one point I was complaining about ،w flawed the U.S. was and ،w vital it was to fix things, and Chait responded, in his characteristically mild manner so،ing like: Well, a few generations ago our ancestors lived in villages where sometimes other people would come in and just ransack everything and ، everyone. Things aren’t that bad.
The point wasn’t that the U.S. was perfect — Chait didn’t and doesn’t think the U.S. is perfect, and around that time he published a book criticizing conservative economic policy for making life harder for Americans while enri،g the wealthy. But the sense I get, looking back on that conversation, was that Chait was trying to cool the jets of a young and p،ionate would-be intellectual type w، was reciting lefty mantras rather than really thinking things through.
Whenever I engage in the navel-gazing act of thinking about ،w my views have changed since I s،ed writing professionally, I remember that conversation, because I think it captured so،ing important&،ip;.
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منبع: https://reason.com/volokh/2024/07/06/jesse-singals-july-4-adjacent-reflections-on-modern-america/