A Road to Nowhere Quotes

“What the current aura of disenchantment means for the future of American and world politics is uncertain. Will members of the public turn their backs on politics and turn to aesthetic appreciation, enjoying the comforts of religion, or building Shangri-las in their own minds?20 The post–World War II record-low voter turnout in the 2014 midterm elections might be one indication that Americans are washing their hands of even the most basic expressions of political engagement. But there are other indications that the legions of discontented do not reject the idea of progress as such and will not retreat from politics; instead what we are seeing is a rejection of liberal universalist visions of progress and the political programs associated with them. In a 2013 address before the Federal Assembly, Russian president Vladimir Putin declared that “attempts to push supposedly more progressive development models onto other nations actually resulted in regression, barbarity and extensive bloodshed.”21 Putin’s military incursions in Russia’s near (and not- so-near) abroad aside, increasing numbers of Westerners seem to agree with the sentiment of his remarks, punishing establishment politicians as “globalists” and rewarding inward-looking populists. From Brexiteers bucking the European Union to America-firsters looking to make their country “great again,” from supporters of the National Front in France to loyalists of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands or the Freedom Party of Austria, nationalists are on the ascent, seeking progress for themselves and their compatriots on their own terms.”
― Matthew W. Slaboch, A Road to Nowhere: The Idea of Progress and Its Critics

“In the preceding chapters, I put critics of the idea of progress into conversation with other thinkers from the same national tradition.8 One of my aims was to determine whether political and national context shapes critics’ proposals for action or whether these critics advocate stances that can be adopted irrespective of time or place. My findings reveal a split among these thinkers that is based not on nationality, but on whether the authors in question view history as a bumpy but straight road to nowhere (or worse, to hell), or whether they discern in the passing of time a pattern of recurring hills and dales. Writers of the first sort tend to be critics of politics, while cyclical theorists are receptive to grand political projects, especially in the international arena. Whether a thinker rejects or adheres to a cyclical view of history is a more important determinant of whether or not he prioritizes politics than such things as whether he believes in fate or free will or whether he believes that God, nature, or man shapes history.”
― Matthew W. Slaboch, A Road to Nowhere: The Idea of Progress and Its Critics

“It was precisely that optimism, however, that would earn Reagan the admiration of one of his successors, Barack Obama. One might be tempted to attribute the unrelenting faith in the future shared by the Illinois native Reagan and the Chicago transplant Obama to something in the Prairie State ground. But if there is something in the Illinois soil, then that something has spread to the other forty-nine United States, for Reagan and Obama are hardly alone in their outlooks. Reagan could earn a second term by promising that it was “morning in America,” because members of the electorate were susceptible to the idea that their country’s best days lay ahead and would only get brighter. Obama could secure another four years for himself by pledging to take the United States “forward,” because that is where the American people wanted to be.”
― Matthew W. Slaboch, A Road to Nowhere: The Idea of Progress and Its Critics

“If not in outright war, society will dissolve itself by other means. In a speech before the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Brooks [Adams] describes the undoing of America’s social fabric by excessive individualism. This great undoing starts in the family. When women reject their duties as wives and mothers—when they cease to be the “cement” that holds families together—they hasten society’s decline. Brooks goes so far as to say that women shirking their traditional duties constitutes “the ultimate form of selfishness” and tends toward “the final resolution of society into atoms.” Henry laments, too, in the Education that “the American woman was a failure.” The modern American “woman had been set free,” but women “were not content.” Unable to find her footing in the new age, the modern woman could not succeed in any of her old roles: “she had failed even to hold the family together.” This was not, Henry argued, entirely the fault of women, for he regarded the female sex as superior. Modern democratic life had simply de-sexed American society.”
― Matthew W. Slaboch, A Road to Nowhere: The Idea of Progress and Its Critics

“Being moved by material interests is not the only way in which politicians represent the society from which they come. Politicians and their constituents also share a need for approval. Congressmen seek office not solely to enrich themselves, but because of vanity.”
― Matthew W. Slaboch, A Road to Nowhere: The Idea of Progress and Its Critics