In The Atlantic, Peter Beinart makes the case that “the return of a vanquished disease reflects historical amnesia, declining faith in institutions, and a troubling lack of concern for the public good.” What the Measles Epidemic Really Says About America. “Our amnesia about vaccines is part of a broader forgetting. Prior generations of Americans understood the danger of zero-sum economic nationalism, for instance, because its results remained visible in their lifetimes. When Al Gore debated Ross Perot about NAFTA in 1993, he reminded the Texan businessman of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which raised tariffs on 20,000 foreign products—prompting other countries to retaliate, deepening the Great Depression, and helping to elect Adolf Hitler. But fewer and fewer people remember the last global trade war. Similarly, as memories of Nazism fade across Europe and the United States, anti-Semitism is rising. Technology may improve; science may advance. But the fading of lessons that once seemed obvious should give pause to those who believe history naturally bends toward progress.” (Keep this in mind as we see nationalism and fascist behavior surge around the world. Many argue the threat is overstated. But to those still around who have seen it with their own eyes, the signs are all too familiar.)