"'...the blood of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to Heaven against him [the President]."
. . . .
". . . must have begun the war motivated by a desire for "military glory"--that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood--that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy.' When that aim failed, his mind, "taxed beyond its power," began "running hither and thither, like an ant on a hot stove," and this "bewildered, confounded, and miserable man " could only speak in "the half insane mumbling of a fever-dream."
[Abraham Lincoln, speaking of President James K. Polk]
--David Herbert Donald
The mind moves easily, almost naturally, to think this speaks to another president, long after Polk. It might seem to refer, not to the U. S. invasion that initiated the Mexican war, but a later U. S. invasion that started another ill-begotten war.
Lincoln still speaks, even in the 21st Century.
Although he was labeled "unpatriotic," and a "traitor," and was accused of treason and speaking from political motivation, he nonetheless supported sending supplies and support to the troops, who were in this through no fault of their own.
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2 comments:
Most people feel, I guess, that it's part of their duty to let the institutions of the world (state, church, home, work) do some or most of their thinking for them. Many would say that this is laziness, but I think that many conservative people feel that some sort of positive obedience lies in being more supportive than questioning (which they see as second-guessing), especially when it comes to the actions of authority figures, whom conservatives usually afford great respect to. So when the nation starts a war, they find it easy to assume that it must be proper simply because it is an action taken by their nation and their leader, and they find their duty in supporting it.
Of course, I myself don't agree with this view at all. As a liberal, I question the assumption that authority figures are usually the best and the brightest at much of anything (except maybe a mastery of the road to power), and therefore to me they hardly merit our unquestioning support. A close and ongoing scrutiny of what the institutions of the world ask of us, I think, helps keep them honest. However, I can learn from the conservatives how respect for authority figures can be humbling and healthy, and conservatives can learn from liberals how respect should combine with some skepticism to make an equally healthy blend. It would be nice if the two camps threw less mud at each other and saw more often how each ideology has something the other could learn from.
Good post.
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