In 1978, the Russian dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn gave a commencement address at Harvard, warning us about the loss of American self-confidence and will. “A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today,” he declared. The enemies of liberal democracy seem to be full of passionate intensity — Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Donald Trump, campus radicals. He shows how it was created by real people in real communities who wanted richer, fuller and more dynamic lives. The Dutch merchant fleet was capable of carrying more tonnage than the fleets of France, England, Scotland, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and Portugal combined.

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Persons: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ”, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Donald Trump, Fareed Zakaria’s, Zakaria doesn’t Organizations: Harvard, Republicans, Trump Locations: Russian, West, Dutch Republic, Dutch, France, England, Scotland, Empire, Spain, Portugal, Paris