You don't tell people who disagree with you they'd be better off somewhere else. And you don't reduce them to stereotypes; you address them as fully formed people worthy of respect. You try to persuade them.
Peggy NoonanRead
The biggest political change in my lifetime is that Americans no longer assume that their children will have it better than they did. This is a huge break with the past, with assumptions and traditions that shaped us.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a shift in American optimism about the future of children compared to previous generations.
Peggy Noonan's quote highlights a significant societal change where the once commonly held belief that each generation would achieve a better life than the previous one has diminished. This shift represents a break from historical norms and traditions that instilled hope and ambition in parents for their children's success, indicating a more uncertain present and future.
Themes
PoliticsChangeFutureChildrenOptimism
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about generational wealth and opportunities in a seminar.
More from Peggy Noonan
All quotes →You can get so well educated in America that your thoughts become detached from common sense. You can get so complicated in your thinking that the obvious isn't real to you anymore.
Peggy NoonanRead
If you join government, calmly make your contribution and move on. Don't go along to get along; do your best and when you have to - and you will - leave, and be something else.
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Wit penetrates; humor envelops. Wit is a function of verbal intelligence; humor is imagination operating on good nature.
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Naps are nature's way of reminding you that life is nice, like a beautiful swinging hammock strung between birth and infinity.
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We must try again to be alive to what the people of our country really long for in our national life: forgiveness and grace, maturity and wisdom. ...Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.
Peggy NoonanRead
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