Opinion
America’s starting to look a lot like South America
It will take the wisdom of Solomon to steer the United States back onto the path of stability and normality and so far there’s no Abraham Lincoln or FDR on the horizon capable of doing th
Alexander DownerColumnistAmerica, for all its strengths, is a shouty, shooty sort of a country. You know what I mean. In public discourse, Americans have become the masters of hyperbolic denunciation of compatriots with whom they disagree; and as for shooty, they love their guns, and the data shows they use them.
We are a bit shouty, it’s true. Just take the way we’re managing the Voice debate. But we’re not shooty! John Howard was able to force through his gun laws with huge public support. Those laws have been a triumph and a credit to our national culture.
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