British historian Paul Johnson was one of the people who turned me into a conservative.

His seminal Modern Times – The History Of The World From The Twenties Through The Eighties, was instrumental, not only in stomping flat the last shreds of the fabian leftism I grew up with, but showing me the intellectual basis for the American exceptionalism that was such a cornerstone of the Reagan worldview.

If you’re a liberal, he’s not only much, much smarter than you, he’s smarter than your so-called smart guys.  He uses “liberal intellectuals” for firewood.  He picks “thinkers” like Ezra Klein out of his stool in the morning.

And he figures America’s best days are in front of it:

“Of course I worry about America,” he says. “The whole world depends on America ultimately, particularly Britain. And also, I love America—a marvelous country. But in a sense I dont worry about America because I think America has such huge strengths—particularly its freedom of thought and expression—that its going to survive as a top nation for the foreseeable future. And therefore take care of the world.

Pessimists, he points out, have been predicting Americas decline “since the 18th century.” But whenever things are looking bad, America “suddenly produces these wonderful things—like the tea party movement. Thats cheered me up no end. Because its done more for women in politics than anything else—all the feminists? Nuts! Its brought a lot of very clever and quite young women into mainstream politics and got them elected. A very good little movement, that. I like it.” Then he deepens his voice for effect and adds: “And I like that lady—Sarah Palin. Shes great. I like the cut of her jib.”

Just read the whole thing.  Maybe, if you’re a liberal, you’ll convert too…