• In total there are 4 users online :: 0 registered, 0 hidden and 4 guests (based on users active over the past 60 minutes)
    Most users ever online was 789 on Tue Mar 19, 2024 5:08 am

Political implications

#53: Sept. - Oct. 2008 (Non-Fiction)
User avatar
DWill

1H - GOLD CONTRIBUTOR
BookTalk.org Hall of Fame
Posts: 6966
Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:05 am
16
Location: Luray, Virginia
Has thanked: 2262 times
Been thanked: 2470 times

Political implications

Unread post

Burton touches only obliquely on politics. He prefaces a chapter with a quotation by G.W. Bush: "What the American people want in their president is certainty." (Words to that effect.) The quotation raises the question of how a "feeling of knowing" may have influenced Bush's decisions regarding Iraq. Beyond that, is Bush correct about what we want in a president? Is certainty what we seem to value most, a steely resolve backed by strong moral rectitude? Or do we value more highly leaders who do not trumpet their certainty but nevertheless act as they believe is necessary, such as Abraham Lincoln? I just wondered if anyone has a comment.
Post Reply

Return to “On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not - by Robert Burton”