Friday, June 08, 2007

Learning From Lincoln

Learning from Lincoln's Wisdom by William Kristol

Selected Excerpt:
The generation of World War II is mostly gone. The generation that directly heard tell of World War II from its parents is moving on. We have exhausted, so to speak, the moral capital of that war. Now we face challenges almost as daunting as those confronting the nation when Lincoln spoke. The perpetuation of freedom in the world is no more certain today than was the perpetuation of our free institutions then. Of course, we have the example of Lincoln to guide us. And Ferguson's wry and sardonic account of the ways we remember him is heartening and even inspiring, almost despite itself or despite ourselves. But the failures of leadership of the 1840s and 1850s should also chasten us. Nations don't always rise to the occasion. And the next generation can pay a great price when the preceding one shirks its responsibilities.

3 comments:

Rick and Gary said...

Hi David -- Doesn't this strike you as an absurd exaggeration? A band of kooks flies two planes into 2 Manhattan office buildings, and we "face challenges almost as daunting as those confronting the nation" when we practically destroyed ourselves? When 2% of our population killed each other -- the equivalent of 6 million Americans killing each today?

"The perpetuation of freedom in the world is no more certain today than was the perpetuation of our free institutions then." Come on! Freedom has much more momentum now than it ever has, because of its manifest advantages in economy and technology.

David M. Smith said...

Hi Rick,

I think you may have misinterpreted the piece; at least as I interpreted it. Kristol isn’t comparing America now to America during the Civil War. He is comparing America now to America 20 years before the Civil War. He is also comparing America now, 60+ years after WWII, to America then, 60+ years after the American Revolution. I think his comparison is apt. We are a country on a precipice that could go either way.

I really didn’t post the piece for the comparison. (Perhaps I posted the wrong excerpt) I post it to demonstrate Lincoln’s leadership, which I mentioned in my previous piece, and which seems to be missing in America now.

Rick and Gary said...

Ooops. I guess I should have read the actual article before commenting :-)