The United States of Narcissism? Speaking of Democracy’s Worst Enemies

The Purple Principle

“If we believe democracy has failed us,” writes author and scholar Tom Nichols in his latest book, Our Own Worst Enemy, “we should first ask ourselves whether we have failed the test of democracy.”

In this Purple Principle episode entitled “The United States of Narcissism,“ co-hosts Rob Pease and Jillian Youngblood ask Nichols why many Americans seem to be enthusiastically failing that test in recent times.

A longtime Soviet Union—then Russia expert—Nichols points back to the US triumph at the end of the Cold War as a tipping point from civic seriousness toward national narcissism – an event he likens to winning the lottery. “And anybody who's followed the history of lottery winners can tell you,” Nichols observes, “winning the lottery never goes well.”

The bleakness of 1970s’ industrial decline initially turned Nichols into a young, Reaganite Republican, setting him on the path of Russian language and history study to understand the necessity of a strategic air command post in his hometown. However, by 2018, Nichols believed that same party was no longer taking international security threats seriously enough.

“We were the first to defect from the Republicans,” says Nichols of he and many fellow security experts, “because we were primarily concerned about national security and about putting the nuclear codes in the hands of an unstable sociopath.”

Not one to shy away from bold statements, Nichols has seen what lack of freedom means in today’s Russia and other autocratic nations. As a result, he’s issued an urgent plea in this latest book, Our Own Worst Enemy, for Americans across the political spectrum to re-embrace civic values, abstain from biased media, and resist the siren call of autocratic solutions.

Join us on The Purple Principle for an impassioned discussion with Dr. Tom Nichols, Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval War College and author of the new Oxford University Press book, Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault from within on Modern Democracy.

Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney

SHOW NOTES

Our Guest

Tom Nichols: Twitter, Faculty Page, The Atlantic

Buy his latest book: Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault from within on Modern Democracy

Additional Resources

• Tom Nichols, 'Death of Expertise' Author, Is Profiled (Harvard Magazine)
• How Sen. John Heinz’s tragic death, 30 years ago, changed Pa.’s politics then and now | Opinion (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• House Republicans Who Backed Infrastructure Bill Face Vicious Backlash (New York Times)
• Watch John McCain defend Barack Obama against a racist voter in 2008 (Vox)
• Reagan Aides Bullish on 'The Bear' Ads (Washington Post)
• 10 Shocking Revelations From the Facebook Papers (Rolling Stone)
• A Wider Ideological Gap Between More and Less Educated Adults (Pew Research Center)
• Pizzagate, the fake news conspiracy theory that led a gunman to DC’s Comet Ping Pong, explained (Vox)
• Gary Kasparov-Biography
• Vietnam Era-A History of Westover Air Force Base

Find us online!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/purpleprinciplepodcast

Twitter: @purpleprincipl

Facebook: @thepurpleprinciplepodcast

Instagram: @thepurpleprinciplepodcast

Our website: https://bit.ly/2ZCpFaQ

Sign up for our newsletter: https://bit.ly/2UfFSja