Classifieds

Commentary
"I was wrong."
That's how my friend Henry Olsen began his Washington Post column that was written only hours after the polls closed on Tuesday.
I'm full of admiration for his candor about this, and for not being vague and offhand about it but spelling out in detail exactly what it was that he thought he was mistaken about. In fact, I would say that the whole problem with American politics and, indeed, with American life today stems from the fact that hardly anybody ever has the humility to say "I was wrong" anymore. About anything.
The reason for this I have touched on before. With the breakdown of so many traditional identities based on family, social class, religion, occupation, etc., people show their aversion to existence in an undifferentiated mass by identifying themselves with their opinions....