SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT -- THOUGHTFUL RESPONSES

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT – THOUGHTFUL RESPONSES

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© September 15, 2009

Reference:

What follows is a sampling of responses to this missive. One reader wonders at the origin of the quote of John Adams that ends this missive with these words: “There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

It was taken from a letter to John Taylor with the postmark of April 15, 1814.

Imagine the times.

The War of 1812 with the British was still underway. It would not be settled until the Treaty of Ghent, which would occur eight months later on December 24, 1814.

The British had burned Washington, D.C. to the ground and the war settled none of the issues that caused what was called “the Second American Revolution.”

General Andrew Jackson did that in 1815 in the Battle of New Orleans. So decisive was his victory that he removed any European threat, be it from the British, French or Spanish ever again from American shores.

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THOUGHTFUL RESPONSES

THE OWNER OF A SMALL COMPANY

You are correct. It is something to think about. I hope those in power are, but it is something we all need to think more about.

I do not know what was the basis for the statement you attribute to John Adams but it certainly has validity as we view things such as your examples of reference to Christmas and Easter and those examples are only a tip of the iceberg so to speak.

If John Adams had cognizance of the suicidal tendencies of democracy over 200 years ago, would he be surprised we are still surviving today? Would he think the end is imminent? Or would he rethink the strength and tenure of democracy?

I am not looking for answers, only sharing thoughts. You simply struck a note and I wanted to respond.

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A NEWSPAPER JOURNALIST

At one time I wrote President Bush some of my thoughts.

I explained to him that I had read of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire and the British Empire. I told him I also read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

Knowing that not many leading nations lasted much more than 200 years I told him I lived through much of the growth of the United States and felt that now I was living in the fall of, or the decline of, the United States.

I guess no one there was interested in what I had to say for I did not receive one answer from my letter. I'm thinking perhaps I'm glad I'll be an octogenarian next year. Is America breaking up? If it isn't it is a long way from where it should be.

Take care,

My best to you and your lovely bride,

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A COLLEGE PROFESSOR

You have very powerful words and thoughts behind them. I may well read this
to my class tomorrow. Just for your information here is a syllabus attached of that
seniors only class that you may find interesting.

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A PROFESSIONAL WOMAN

I am not as courageous as you to write and let everyone read my opinion so I'm sorry for that. However, I wanted you to know how much I appreciated reading what you wrote. I agree with you 100% that no matter whether we voted for President Obama or not, we need to respect him and help him, not fight against what he's trying to do.

It never ceases to amaze me how people who profess themselves to be Christians can say some of the worst things against someone. Whether or not you agree with them, you can at least be civilized.

I also don't have the intelligence you have, Dr. Fisher, but I agree with you on a lot of issues. I met you at the Women's Club when you were in Clinton and sat at the dining room table with you.

God bless,

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A RETIRED FLORIDIAN

A fine missive--but did I read incorrectly? Isn't Wilson a Republican and his opponent a Democrat? Keep the thoughts coming!! Thanks and regards.

The reader is correct. Dr. Fisher replies:

He is but a Republican in South Carolina and a Democrat in South Carolina are part of a one party democracy, and this was what I was trying to illustrate with both of them raising $1 million in a single week. It is a very conservative state with Democrats as conservative as Republicans. The mid-term elections here in 2010 will be a litmus test of the Obama’s presidency.

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A DAUGHTER

Dad,

I agree with what you just shared. I would hope that people do read some of what you write. It is always something I have to reflect on. Reading this makes me think about how I look at everything.

Thanks,

Laurie

Note: It was nice to also hear from one of my children, especially since she doesn’t always agree with me, which is okay, too.

FINAL THOUGHTS

John Adams was perhaps our most heady Founding Father and second president. You get this sense if you read his writings. His son, John Quincy Adams, our sixth president was equally perceptive and acerbic, and I’ve quoted him generously as well in my writings.

What I find remarkable is how similar in style and eloquence President Abraham Lincoln and President Barak Obama are, and how equally they are vilified and hated in their times. The key is balancing intellect with pragmatics.

Lincoln was a great compromiser, something that is often forgotten, and would have done anything to preserve the Union. He hated slavery but vacillated on abolishing it, and considered some form of slavery to continue if it meant saving the Union.

The Great Emancipator was a man and a politician, and grew out of the soil of an emerging nation from an agrarian to an industrial society.

Obama is a man and a politician that has grown out of the soil of a collapsing world in on itself to form something akin to a single Union of a multitude of disparate parts.

Lincoln’s times required a leader of massive intellect. Obama’s times require a leader of similar gifts.

We have the luxury of Lincoln’s history, but not Obama’s.

Do the times make the leader or does the leader make the times? Books are appearing this year on the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth (February 12, 1809), and some of them are knocking him off his pedestal. Obama has not yet managed to climb on a pedestal to be either admired or knocked off. Lincoln belongs to the ages while Obama is in the midst of his.

President Obama has missed none of the implied Lincoln connection.

He was inaugurated as the first African American president just three weeks before the two hundredth birthday of the president who issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Both men possessed limited experience in federal office before they were elected – Lincoln with a single term in the House and Obama with four years in the Senate. Both entered the White House as the nation faced grave crises.

Obama announced his presidential candidacy in 2007 in the old state capitol at Springfield, Illinois where Lincoln delivered his famous “House Divided” address in 1858.

In his campaign, Obama frequently quoted Lincoln and cited his inspiration. Obama announced in his inaugural address that this would be a new birth of freedom, which Lincoln had done at Gettysburg.

Obama took the oath of office on the same Bible Lincoln had used in his first inauguration.

It could be said, two hundred years later, that the election of an African American as President of the United States completed part of the “unfinished work” that Lincoln referred to at Gettysburg.

More than 16,000 books have been written on Lincoln. We Americans are fascinated by someone among us that is stronger, brighter, braver, more focused, forgiving, but ever resolute and vigilant and ready to take charge as commander in chief of our military, as Lincoln did, when our military wavered and became tentative in the Civil War.

The Civil War that Lincoln faced has now become a global Civil War with society and civilization in the balance.

Two hundred years from now, who knows, thousands of books may be on Kindles of Obama’s Administration.

Need I remind you it is our history, too?

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