Dishing the Soul of America

Okay, Andrew Sullivan is an unreliable demi-conservative Catholic who has been an unrelenting critic of the president when he isn't busy being a One-note Sally on gay marriage. Nevertheless today's post has resonance with the 9/11 anniversary while reminding us eloquently why useless fanatics are bound to be defeated be the most resiliant, inventive free nation that has graced our planet:

That our society no longer represents a philosophically unified and substantive whole is a loss greatly outweighed by the exuberance and genius and creativity that freedom has unleashed. Miracles in science and technology, astonishing advances in communication, the empowerment of millions to experience freedom of thought independently of big corporations, governments or expensive printing presses: these achievements of free people have expanded the possibilities of human freedom still further. The attack on the West by Islamism was not a function of the West's weakness, but a nihilistic, embittered swipe at a success that cast the dreary failure of so much of the Muslim Middle East into a shaming shade. It turned out our flaw was not our softness, but our strength.

When asked to defend the contingent, and foundation-less conservatism I have sketched here, this should be enough. We like it here. We love our way of life. The proof is in the millions who long to be here, who aspire to this dream of human potential, who yearn to escape the stifling constraints of oppressive government interference or brutal theocratic tyranny. What greater argument need we have? Our only weakness is self-doubt, which is part of our own querulous, paradoxical strength. The achievement of this freedom is a consequence of luck and tradition, history and thought, of great leaders in dark times and ordinary people in the unlikeliest of places. But it is an achievement nonetheless. We can touch it with our hands, and express it with our voices. It is more secure than any abstract argument or esoteric thesis. It is as good a defense as we shall ever have. Why on earth should we ask for more?

It's an excerpt from his book, The Conservative Soul (which I might read) and discovered via Instapundit, whose coverage, in the form of links, has been better than any of the gaseous emissions I've seen from the mainstream media. Tom at Bizzyblog has also done a great job wrangling up some of the better links into a post.

I had planned to watch the president's speech, but I became too busy with the Redskins game, which just ended in catastrophe.

Tags: America, Tyranny, Andrew Sullivan