Excerpt from The New Frontier: A Study of the American Liberal, Spirit, Its Frontier Origin, and Its Application to Modern Problems
Tm: main thesis of this book is one that em phatically needs to be uttered, and that is uttered here with admirable force, With convincing argu ment, with copious illustration. It proclaims a truth which is in danger of escaping our attention amid the general clamor of the times. That truth is this: America is not radical; America is not reactionary; American is liberal. And what she has been she will continue to be for the simple and sufficient reason that liberalism is native to the very air she breathes, is the compelling product of her history, is the heart of her national tradition, is the essence of her national psychology.
We are being much advised these days by many confident monitors of the public to discard our rich inheritance, as the work of men of darkened or narrow minds or of malevolent spirit. We shall not do so. At no time in her history has America stood still in complacent adoration of the past. At no stage has she been willing to cast aside her fundamental institutions and her customary habits of mind, both of which have served her well in many a period of trouble. Also at no stage has she been indisposed to improve the things that could be improved. America is neither troglodytic nor quixotic. She is optimistic and she is sensible.
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