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Virginia Postrel's avatar

When Bernard-Henri Lévy was traveling the country for his 2005 "In the Footsteps of Tocqueville" series of articles in The Atlantic, he came to Dallas, where I was then living and, at the request of The Atlantic, I spent some time taking him to see some of the city's famous shopping. (The Container Store proved of significantly more interest than Neiman Marcus, which wasn't going to impress a Parisian.) What I remember most was passing Southern Methodist University, where my Jewish atheist husband was on the faculty, along with Muslims, Hindus, etc., etc., etc. "Why would the Methodists do that?" he asked, utterly bewildered. Rather than resorting to the usual stereotypes about guns, he should have followed that question. But he didn't. He's no Tocqueville.

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Vladan Lausevic's avatar

I really admire the arguments in this article. Freedom, pluralism, civility go together. Civic pluralism is in line with civic and constitutional patriotism, and universal values. Relations between people are important and at the local level are crucial for community creation. America is after all an idea of constant plurality, change and openness.

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