Bret Stephens, a columnist for the New York Times, noted in a crisis like the one in Ukraine, you could ask yourself, “Who are we, with our habitual ignorance, to meddle in faraway disputes about which we know so little?” This sounds exactly like the statements of a Republican Senate candidate in Ohio named Vance and Fox News pundits. After all, sone of our past attempts to fix problems have ended badly. Vietnam and Afghanistan spring to mind.
Our record is poor in other ways. We had a history of slavery and racial bigotry. We pushed around Latin American countries and invaded Mexico, taking its territory in New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Our democracy is currently under siege by Trumpists.
On the other hand, Stephens wrote, we once had self-belief. Our political ideals were ideals that all people could share–human rights, individual liberties, rule of law, democratic governance. We often blundered and messed up, but we also defeated the Confederacy, helped to defeat fascists in World War II, saved South Korea and Kuwait, launched the Marshall Plan.
Stephens said the correct question to ask is not Who are we? but rather Who but us? If we don’t step up, who will?
I just finished watching the first two exposes of Lincoln on the History channel. There are a lot of things portrayed that in ways that are similar to today's events. The thing that I got out of it so far is how great a man Lincoln was. I believe that this should be required viewing for anyone running for public office.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately we have very few politicians who are anywhere near what Lincoln was.
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