It Has Its Place

The Case for Greatness: Honorable Ambition and Its Critics, by Robert Faulkner (Yale, 264 pp., $30)

POLITICAL ambition has a bad reputation these days. Not least because the “professional politician” tends to wear out his welcome quickly: Our historically unprecedented media sensorium, with its unceasing coverage and analysis, its exposés and lightning bolts of enthusiasm, makes it hard for any political actor to sustain popular admiration. That’s probably a good thing, on balance, for free government. But political ambition still exists (just think about all the presidential debates we’ve endured over the last several months). And, as Robert Faulkner argues in this wise book, the honorable kind-that of a Washington, Churchill, or Reagan-can achieve greatness by founding, protecting, or revitalizing “decent” societies.

About the Author

Brian C. Anderson

Mr. Anderson is editor of City Journal and author of Democratic Capitalism and Its Discontents, South Park Conservatives, and other books.

Featured Tags

The Case for Greatness: Honorable Ambition and Its Critics, by Robert Faulkner (Yale, 264 pp., $30)

POLITICAL ambition has a bad reputation these days. Not least because the “professional politician” tends to wear out his welcome quickly: Our historically unprecedented media sensorium, with its unceasing coverage and analysis, its exposés and lightning bolts of enthusiasm, makes it hard for any political actor to sustain popular admiration. That’s probably a good thing, on balance, for free government. But political ambition still exists (just think about all the presidential debates we’ve endured over the last several months). And, as Robert Faulkner argues in this wise book, the honorable kind-that of a Washington, Churchill, or Reagan-can achieve greatness by founding, protecting, or revitalizing “decent” societies.