I'm a Pessimist, I've Shifted From Optimism to Optimism

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I didn't see myself as an optimist or pessimist. I'm a little struck in my last couple of years by the extent of pessimism where the argument has gone from America could not possibly see a democratic failure under any kind of, unless aliens land and dominate us. But we have to take risks very seriously, but it places me in different camps because the sort of surrounding conversation has changed.

Richard Haass is a veteran American diplomat, statesman, and author. He is president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and served as Special Assistant to President George H. W. Bush and as Director of Policy Planning at the State Department in the administration of President George W. Bush. His most recent book is The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens.

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Richard Haass discuss the structural challenges, missed opportunities, and poor choices of the last thirty years; the arc of American foreign policy from Vietnam to Iraq; and how civic-minded Americans can effect positive change at a moment of crisis.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

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