History and America’s Decline | Paul A. Rahe

John joins Professor Paul Rahe for a conversation about the current state of the West and our fragmented world order, centred on the importance of understanding history.

The western democratic tradition is a sophisticated mechanism to balance the distribution of power. In a world where cynical nihilism is on the rise, sound debates and discussions are being replaced with rhetorically driven polarisation. In today's US political scene, hatred has been weaponised by politicians calling for radical change without sound alternatives. Professor Rahe encourages us to re-embrace serious historical education to remain sober-minded in a confused era.

Paul Rahe is currently Professor of History at Hillsdale College, and previously taught at Yale, Cornell and numerous other universities. In 2009, he wrote the widely debated Soft despotism, democracy's drift, which argues that society may drift away from self-government due to a spirit of uneasiness and discontent. He has also authored numerous critically acclaimed history books, many centred on the Spartans.
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0:00 Introduction
1:59 Decline in history education
9:04 Who’s driving the high living standards?
14:25 “Two Americas”
23:21 Nihilism - The making of a fragmented world order
31:06 Can we stop making the same mistake by learning history?
36:42 How critical race theory obscures other overlapping social injustices
43:27 Increasing cynicism and the purpose of college education
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