In tribute to Acton’s civic spirit
In Britain, we only hear about political polarization and dysfunction in the U.S. In Acton, what I saw was the opposite.
My recent, too brief, visit to Acton left me feeling a lot more optimistic about the world — and not just because of a meditative walk to Walden Pond.
As an Englishman, I was flattered by the considerate way that you dealt with your former colonizers, from the balanced account of the uprising in your excellent history museum to a marvelous shop, guarded by a redcoat, selling British essentials such as Marmite.
As the author of a recent book on the travails of liberalism (“The Revolutionary Centre: The Lost Genius of Liberalism”), I was delighted by the strength of the civic spirit.
In Britain, we only hear about political polarization and dysfunction in the U.S. In Acton, what I saw was the opposite: people volunteering their time to preserve history and putting aside ideological differences for the sake of civic flourishing.
Adrian Wooldridge
Froxfield, Hampshire, Great Britain
