"The Utopian Grounds for Pessimism and the Reasonable Grounds for Optimism." Causes for Optimism. Ed. John A. Howard. Rockford, Ill.: Rockford College, 1973. 40-50.

In this presentation to a Rockford College colloquium exploring “Causes for Optimism,” Diamond suggests that the pervasive pessimism of the late 1960s and early 1970s followed inevitably from the exaggerated, utopian expectations that certain doctrines brought to politics and human nature—expectations that were bound to be disappointed, giving way to profound disillusionment. Far better it is, Diamond argues, to turn to an appreciation of the solid, sensible, attainable decencies cultivated by the American constitutional order. The presentation was subsequently published in 1973 in Causes for Optimism, edited by John A. Howard.

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