The Frontier & Its Risks

 Daniel Henninger applies Frederick Jackson Turner to the current crisis.  In 1893 Turner argued “westering”  defined American character, especially individualism.   Henninger notes “Turner’s purpose wasn’t to idealize America but to try to understand the wellsprings of its remarkable and self-evident success.”  It tells us something today: “The current crisis is the result of a world gone madly long on real estate. Daniel Boone, the famed American frontiersman, went belly-up speculating on Kentucky land. He moved on in 1788 and paid his debts. So should we, without losing sight of the American frontier, where we discovered the rewards of risk.” 

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