Aphorisms of Os Guinness

[Valin]

World

Marvin Olasky

6/20/13

 

Before interviewing an author, I normally read at least his most recent book and interviews of him that are available online. I then jot down some of his lines that can become launching points for questions. I generally have much more than I can use in an interview, so here are some unused utterances from Os Guinness that were in my notes for the interview of him in the current issue of WORLD.

 

On government spending: Few, if any, superpowers in history have been in deeper debt than the United States today.

 

On education: We have a crisis of civic education. No one today is teaching what it means to be American. As Samuel Huntington says, its relatively easy to get naturalization papersthat is, to become an American. Its increasingly difficult to know what it is to be American.

 

On immigration: The problem is not wolves at the door but termites in the floor. You could actually take in a lot more people than you do now if, when they came, they were taught what it is they were coming to, what it is to be an American citizen.

 

(Snip)

 

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From Earlier The Year...Enjoy