Tyler Cowen: belief

Transcript context

…You can bury me now. I will not be saying that. [laughter] We agree there’s something, right now, quite screwed up in the American psyche. Maybe sometimes it’s hard to diagnose, but it seems to me often fairly fundamental. Should we consider the uncomfortable idea that only major involvement in a war — a war with true danger, not an excursion — that only that would reinvigorate the American spirit? Is that a serious idea or is that just an awful thought? Is there any truth to it? Yes, I used to think if we had a war with, like Canada, somebody I thought we could take, then that would unify us, but now we might have a war with Canada, so I’m . . . If you look at the history of the world, there are two things that don’t bring countries together, or at least that make countries uglier. I would say pandemics and wars are among them. I’m not a believer that you go to war to save the culture of your country.…

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