David Brooks, Self-Doubt and Self-Confidence

David Brooks lectures us this morning on the need to have a balance between self-doubt and self-confidence.

"Western democratic systems were based on a balance between self-doubt and self-confidence. They worked because there were structures that protected the voters from themselves and the rulers from themselves. Once people lost a sense of their own weakness, the self-doubt went away and the chastening structures were overwhelmed."

According to Brooks:

"In Europe, workers across the Contine...