That being said, American conservatives are in a funny position when thinking about “change.” Our Founding Fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton, were revolutionaries who, for the most part, very much believed in human progress and improvement. Like them, I too believe humans and societies can improve. But, in contrast to today’s “general mood,”
I believe societies improve only with hardship and sacrifice
, and they can decay into disaster with surprising and easy speed.
To Central Europeans who lived through the era of the change of regime, the United States once represented the “land of Elvis Presley”, the opportunities and freedom, where dreams can come true, the very things they were short of behind the Iron Curtain. Something has, however, dramatically changed down the road and the United States is being transformed so that it is losing this appeal. What has changed in your view?
Your question makes me feel old because I no longer recognize, in significant ways, the country in which I grew up and received my education. Thirty years ago, when I was a college undergraduate, my friends and I enjoyed great freedoms. Students and professors could say what they wanted. People were a lot more funny. That is because, I think, we could laugh about differences between the sexes and among people of different religions, races, and backgrounds. Sensitive issues could be discussed in more honest and less political ways. And, in my experience, that freedom allowed people from different backgrounds to become friends more easily.