Harvey C. Mansfield, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Government, studies and teaches political philosophy. He has written on Edmund Burke and the nature of political parties, on Machiavelli and[…]
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Americans, Harvey Mansfield says, are impatient and should give the war effort more time to succeed.
Question: How would you assess the war on terror?
Harvey Mansfield: The war on terror is not going well in Iraq. Or at least, we are impatient with it as a Democratic people. One thing Tocqueville said, “Americans are impatient.” And so it’s not going well enough to satisfy us. We like solutions, and therefore we like quick results. And we haven’t gotten that in Iraq. So the question is whether we’re going to be able to see ahead far enough to get up the courage – or maybe it’s just the endurance – to stick with it. I don’t know whether we’re going to try to cut and run. I don’t think that’s a bad description.
Recorded on: 6/13/07
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