In the immediate aftermath
of the «war to end all wars,» Wilsonian idealism was displaced by the «normalcy»
of Warren G. Harding and the rise
of a
strong isolationist current in American politics» a
tide of public
opinion so formidable that even as
strong and crafty a president as Franklin Delano Roosevelt was compelled to tack carefully across it, even as he prepared the United States for its inevitable entry into World War II.
And yet, disproportionate numbers
of us continue to buy
Tide instead
of no - name detergent, and to care what our hockey rink is called, and to have
strong opinions on whether a stand
of trees in the downtown Vancouver peninsula should be referenced as Stanley Park or XwayXway.