George Will Loves to Argue About America
AFTER 80 YEARS of life and roughly 6,000 newspaper columns, you might think George Will would be tired of arguing. But “arguing about the nature of the country is as American as frozen apple pie with a slice of processed cheese,” the Washington Post columnist says. “So let’s argue.”
Facts, of course, are important for arguing, and Will prides himself on the number of facts that fill his opinion writing. He frequently visits the deep well of history to make a point. Problems arise, though, in cases where at least one side gets the facts wrong, as with The New York Times’ 1619 Project, or has no facts at all to support its position, as with Donald Trump’s claims about the 2020 election.
Will’s newest book is American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent, 2008–2020 (Hachette Books), a collection of columns that covers everything from the Great Recession through what he calls the crybaby presidency of Donald Trump. Of special interest are his columns drawing complicated lessons from the World War II era, when the country triumphed over authoritarianism and genocide abroad even as it practiced racial apartheid at home.
Will’s love of America is unabashedly patriotic, but it’s never jingoistic or untroubled by tough historical truths. For almost everything happening today, he thinks, there is a historical parallel to learn from, whether it’s election conspiracy theories or President Joe Biden’s legislative efforts to dramatically expand the role of the government in American life.
In September, Will spoke with Reason’s Nick Gillespie via Zoom about happiness, totalitarianism, conspiracy theories, and the importance of learning from history.
Reason: Let’s talk about this concept of the “unruly torrent.” What do you mean by that, and why is that a kind of controlling image for this passel of interesting columns that you’ve collected?
Will: Well, it’s unruly in the sense that it is a torrent. That is, most of reality is not governed. Most of the time that’s a very good thing. It’s been well said that the essence of the Bible reduced to one sentence is, “God