We Need a National Conversation about National Conversations

Ignore the linguistic central planners and talk about whatever you want.

In February 1907, a small newspaper in Harrisburg, Pa., demanded an “aroused public opinion” about the reckless way in which Americans were now living their lives. The paper condemned people who amused themselves “in a way that endangers the bodies and the very existence of their fellow citizens,” criticizing those who run railroad trains, electric trolleys, and automobiles at a speed “that implies an outrageous spirit of recklessness.”

The paper’s antidote for such carelessness?  It suggested a “national conversation” to...