But when we are talking about the basic direction the country needs to face in order to achieve its goals in the modern world, deriving principles from history is often inadequate to dictate outcomes.
Speaking after a three-hour meeting, the officials did not offer a breakdown of the savings, but said they had agreed on the "basic direction" for the cutbacks, equivalent to $14 billion.
But they were all deeply skeptical about his ability to change the basic direction of American policy, especially regarding the Israel-Palestinian dispute.
"The basic direction is done," said the Met's general manager, Peter Gelb, in an interview.
Offering only another variant of austerity, the Republicans guarantee that they, too, take no responsibility to change the basic direction of this society's trajectory.
Though Mrs. George is enjoying her latest challenge, she doesn't expect it will change the basic direction of her work.
Only in the vast, ethnically checkered territory of the former Soviet Union is even the basic direction of states such as Russia and Ukraine still hidden in the fog.
"We agreed on everything, on the basic direction for the 11.5 billion euros in savings," Mr. Stournaras said, adding that details would take time to complete.
In Cairo and Lebanon, while some hailed Mr. Obama's outreach to the Muslim world, most remained skeptical about his ability to change the basic direction of American policy and what many Arabs regard as a strong bias toward Israel.
