Happy Birthday, America

[poliphilo]

Sometimes it can be comforting to look back. 

There was Senator Joe McCarthy- that was a shameful period of American history- with the US polity mirroring that of Stalin's Russia in staging show trials of intellectuals- but McCarthy got run out of town eventually.

And then there was Vietnam. 

And Watergate.

There's nothing the Bush administration has done- waging disastrous imperial wars,  corrupting the political life of the Republic- that hasn't been done before- and worse. America has these massive mood swings- and when she turns nasty the rest of the world cowers- but she always pulls herself right in the end.

I'm not an American, I'm not even particularly Americanophile, but I believe as a sober matter of fact that the USA is the single best political idea we (meaning human beings) have ever had. A Republic based on the values of the Enlightenment- how cool is that!

Of course America has done horrible things- which nation hasn't?- but she remains- because of the vision of her founding fathers-  "the last best hope of earth". 

That's a quote from Abraham Lincoln- the nearest the dirty profession of politics has ever come to producing a saint.

So, happy birthday, America,

You'll get over these recent set-backs-

Of course you will.

Comments

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Tony.

As for political saints, I feel that any president that swears to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States" and, to the best of their ability, actually does so is in some measure a saint.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Good point.

Some remarkable men have held that office (and some sadly unworthy ones too).

But Lincoln is special.