… is from page 215 of Matthew Hennessey’s superb 2022 book, Visible Hand:
History makes a mockery of all utopias.
DBx: Indeed it does. And so thank goodness that the American Revolution wasn’t launched to create any sort of heaven on earth. It was meant, instead, to create a government committed to the truth “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
That government in America since 1776 has often fallen short of this goal is indisputable. But insofar as it has successfully striven toward this this goal it has done so by refusing to attempt to create here on earth some politician’s or professor’s or pundit’s or preacher’s idea of heaven. For this humility, we Americans can be grateful. And we should recommit to reject the utopias peddled today by the progressive left and the MAGA right.
