As regular visitors to these parts will know, David Brooks stands in high regard here. This week brings a brilliant example of what I'll call his ship-in-a-bottle columns: when he somehow crams a vast philosophical or historical analysis into the 800 words of his allotted space - and does so with elegance, wit and cogency. You really must read the whole thing - on the American habit of optimism - but I extract this superb paragraph for your delectation:
The standard thing these days is for Americans to scold each other for our profligacy, to urge fiscal Puritanism. But it’s not clear Americans have ever really been self-disciplined. Instead, Americans probably postponed gratification because they thought the future was a big rock-candy mountain, and if they were stealing from that, they were robbing themselves of something stupendous.
(In other words, they used to pass the marshmallow test.)
Comments