Paul A. Gigot
WSJ, Mar. 12, 2024
“What worries me these days is the lack of unity and resolve on the right. That includes the return of conservative isolationism. The proponents of this view would not identify themselves with that term, but the policies they espouse justify it.”
I recently looked back at what my predecessor and mentor, Robert Bartley, said in 2002 upon his retirement. He surveyed his 30 years as a Journal editor and the progress that had been made. America had won the Cold War, vanquished the stagflation of the 1970s, and quieted the social convulsions of the 1960s and ’70s.
“What I think I’ve learned over 30 years,” Bob wrote, “is that in this society, rationality wins out, progress happens, and problems have solutions. This, I like to think, is what happens when a society incorporates the editorial credo of my newspaper, free markets and free people. In that kind of a society, optimism pays.” He had cause to claim vindication.
Twenty-one years later, I wish I could say the same. Most of the victories that Bob celebrated have eroded or vanished. But then Bob predicted that too. His book, “The Seven Fat Years,” made clear that peace and prosperity are contingent, that the seven fat years in the Bible followed seven lean years. That the Belle Époque of the early 20th century soon gave way to World War I and Stalin, Hitler and Tojo.
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