In Vietnam, America fought one whose communism was driven by an underlying nationalism, the desire to live free of the West. Whatever one may think of this, here was an enemy that truly wanted to live, that insisted on territory and sovereignty. Shelby Steele Read Quote
In looking at difficulties in the black American community over the years, it has always astounded me how much white Americans take for granted the rich and utterly decisive heritage of Western culture. Shelby Steele Read Quote
But blacks make little to no progress and, worse, the preoccupation with injustice only leaves them eternally inconsolable and cut off from their own best energies and talents. Shelby Steele Read Quote
The great drama at the core of American race relations is always the same: Can black Americans ever be truly equal – are they capable of achieving it and are others capable of accepting it? Shelby Steele Read Quote
John McCain is simply a man of considerable character, poor guy. He is utterly bereft of cultural cachet. Shelby Steele Read Quote
Our great presidents have been stewards, men who broadly identified with the whole of America. Shelby Steele Read Quote
As an ideology – and certainly as a political identity – conservatism is less popular than the very principles and values it stands for. Shelby Steele Read Quote
Since the 1960s, when America finally became fully accountable for its past, deference toward all groups with any claim to past or present victimization became mandatory. The Great Society and the War on Poverty were some of the first truly deferential policies. Shelby Steele Read Quote
Deference has been codified in American life as political correctness. And political correctness functions like a despotic regime. It is an oppressiveness that spreads its edicts further and further into the crevices of everyday life. Shelby Steele Read Quote
The Achilles’ heel of the left has been its dependence on menace for power. Think of all the things it can ask for in the name of fighting menaces like ‘systemic racism’ and ‘structural inequality.’ Shelby Steele Read Quote
