Social conservatism, business conservatism: the one side constitutes the other, like some infernal Mobius strip. Rick Perlstein businessconservatismconstitute Change image and share on social
I feel bound to respect Ronald Reagan, as every American should - not least because he chose a career of public service when he could have made a lot more money doing something else, and not least because he took genuine risks for peace. Rick Perlstein americanbindcareer share on social
Call it Camelot's revenge: the class of court scribes who made it their profession to uphold a make-believe version of America free of conflict and ruled by noble men helped Nixon get away with it for so long - because, after all, America was ruled by noble men. Rick Perlstein americacallcamelot share on social
One of the most important things liberals don't understand about conservatism, obscured by too much lazy talk about conservatism's various 'wings,' is that its tenets form a relatively organic base for its adherents, where 'traditional morality' serves the interests of laissez-faire economics and vice-versa. Rick Perlstein adherentbaseconservatism share on social
We Americans love to cite the 'political spectrum' as the best way to classify ideologies. The metaphor is incorrect: it implies symmetry. Rick Perlstein americanciteclassify Change image and share on social
Why was Barack Obama attractive to people in 2008? If you think about Barack Obama, there's all this anxiety about society, just kind of wracked by centripetal forces - the idea that the center's not holding, no one can talk to each other, the idea of a political system that's broken. Rick Perlstein anxietyattractivebarack share on social
While writing books about the past, I think about the present. It's not intentional, but somehow my books end up being written under the sign of a political mood. Rick Perlstein bookendintentional Change image and share on social
That's the way cultural change works in America: the rest of us discard a prejudice that the Right still clings to; in the fullness of time, the Right comes around, too, deploying clever rationalizations to forget they ever bore the prejudice in the first place. Rick Perlstein americabearchange share on social
The history of American higher education over the twentieth century is an extraordinary one, the story of the creation of a powerhouse set of institutions that are the envy of the civilized world. Once they were the province, both among the student and faculty bodies, of children of privilege, generally WASPs. Rick Perlstein americanbodycentury share on social
The argument that John F. Kennedy was a closet peacenik, ready to give up on what the Vietnamese call the 'American War' upon re-election, received its most farcical treatment in Oliver Stone's 'JFK.' Rick Perlstein americanargumentcall Change image and share on social