I recently enjoyed reading Peggy Noonan’s new book “A Certain Idea of America.” It is a wonderful collection of her essays on a variety of thoughts and ideas inspired by seminal events and national struggles. Her central belief is that America is the “shining city on the hill,” the “last great hope” for a free humankind. She rightly points out that America is a grand idea and aspirational in its essence—an anti-feudal