Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Major is right
Major Garrett, interviewed on Miller's program just now, makes an interesting point. He says that Gettysburg is a more important date than July 4. In the 1860's we had to make a real decision between two paths.
He's right. As I mentioned yesterday, the 1776 revolution had no net effect. If it had mattered, Canada and US would be as different as North and South Korea, as different as China and Taiwan. In fact Canada and US are nearly indistinguishable, so it didn't matter.
But Lincoln's war did matter. We had to decide between two paths:
(1) Follow the Constitution.
(2) Establish the President as a one-man absolute dictator who can burn half the country and kill much of its population, or whatever else the voices in his head tell him to do.
We chose (2). ¶ 10:38 AM
He's right. As I mentioned yesterday, the 1776 revolution had no net effect. If it had mattered, Canada and US would be as different as North and South Korea, as different as China and Taiwan. In fact Canada and US are nearly indistinguishable, so it didn't matter.
But Lincoln's war did matter. We had to decide between two paths:
(1) Follow the Constitution.
(2) Establish the President as a one-man absolute dictator who can burn half the country and kill much of its population, or whatever else the voices in his head tell him to do.
We chose (2). ¶ 10:38 AM
