Some optimism and common sense…

I think the American people broadly remain wise; broadly remain convinced that a benevolent government is not always a benefactor; broadly remain convinced that capitalism does not just make us better off--it makes us, in some sense, better. They're broadly convinced that when Jack Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country," one sensible response is that one thing you can do for your country is to reserve a spacious portion of your own life for which you--not your country--are responsible.

I think most Americans still understand what Milton Friedman meant when he said: Take any three letters from the alphabet, put them in any order you want, and you will have an acronym designating a federal agency we could do without.

I think most Americans still understand what Robert Frost meant when he said, "I'm against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise."

And, most of all, I think they understand what Ronald Reagan meant when he said, "I don't want to go back to the past; I want to go back to the past way of facing the future."

– George Will