Ruth Ann’s Reviews > Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy > Status Update

“The only thing that gives the Constitution real lasting power is our commitment to it, and there’s nothing preventing us from walking away from it other than our refusal to do so.” p. 351

Were Trump able to check his id and think beyond the horizon of his instincts in the moment, he would be a far more formidable demagogue. Fortunately, he cannot, and so the constitutional architecture of our government, combined with the patriotic commitments of most of the people who work for him, is more than adequate to constrain his will to power as president. p. 291

“Our problems today can be traced to the fact that we no longer have gratitude for the Miracle and the institutions and customs that made it possible. Where there is no gratitude—and the effort that gratitude demands—all manner of resentments and hostilities flood back in.” p. 277

“To fret about political, social, or economic inequality in a free society is to fret about the problem of freedom itself, for in the presence of freedom there will always be inequality of some kind.” p. 169

“Moral Foundations Theory holds that there are six components to moral sentiments that form the basis of all forms of moral reasoning. They are: care, fairness, liberty, loyalty, authority, and sanctity. How these foundations are applied and interact explain all the variations in human cultures and societies when it comes to how we define right and wrong.” p. 41