Did Someone Say American Civilization?

"However, the British now tend to echo the historian Lord Macaulay, who said that the end of their physical empire would be the proudest day in their history if they left behind “the imperishable empire” of their arts and their morals, their literature and their laws. In other words, national self-esteem should not stem from global might but from cultural values and achievements. Faced by the prospect of decline, Americans could hardly do better than to cling to the noblest traditions of their own civilization."

Piers Brendon "The American Empire Will Rise Again" New York Times February 24, 2010

Header credit: Cultural critic Robert Hughes as Jabba the Hutt in Jeff Koons's "Hands that Built America" (c) Jeff Koons.