Arts and Lectures Series

On Monday David and I went to a lecture given by James Q Wilson; the man to the left. Mr. Wilson's lecture was about a book recently released called "Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation". That book is a collection of essays written by political scientist describing why they feel America is an exceptional nation. Mr. Wilson was an editor of the book.

The lecture was interesting at points and uninteresting at other times. Most of the lecture was Mr. Wilson comparing and contrasting the United States to European countries like England, France, and the Scandinavian countries. He brought up statistics to help make arguments. For instance, American citizens value liberty more than equality where in Europe it is reversed. He spoke of differences between the two continents on a variety of issues like crime, philanthropy, and voter turnout. He attributed some of the difference to being that the constitutions of Europe are built upon duties whereas here in America it is built upon rights.

Overall the lecture was interesting, but I was hoping to hear more about why the opinion of the United States is less than favorable from other countries around the world.