Thought, and Memory
If it does become necessary for Trump, like Lincoln before him, to temporarily suspend certain legal and Constitutional protections to bring the press and the courts to heel, I wonder what the long-term effects will be? Society recovered pretty quickly in 1863, but then again, people (the literate ones, at least) in that age were better educated, and, it seems to me, possessed of rather more common sense as well^1. I'm not sure we'd pick up the thread that easily again.
Americans have been heavily indoctrinated to see the Constitution as somehow uniquely wise and infallible, a document that can apply equally to all places and times, and without which nothing good is possible. It's like America's version of Kim Il Sung, in a way. Removing its divine status, even though it were necessary to save America, is going to badly undermine a lot of people's belief system. Hopefully it won't come to that.
I tend to wonder too, now that I think about it, whether America's origins as a Protestant country make us more susceptible to that "sola scriptura" sort of mindset. There's a great similarity between the way the Constitution and the Bible are treated as being above the need for justification.
^1 If this were a drinking game, and I'd tossed back a shot for every one of my liberal friends and acquaintances who muttered darkly these past few days about America "forgetting history", I'd be at the hospital having my stomach pumped.
*****
Under certain conditions, dead bodies can form blue crystals.
*****
English Monarchs. Magnificent site about the Kings and Queens of England, together with related historical topics. I've spent the better part of the day poking around in here. I recommend it highly. I haven't even begun to poke at the subsite Scottish Monarchs.
I had no idea that George I was such a rotter!
Americans have been heavily indoctrinated to see the Constitution as somehow uniquely wise and infallible, a document that can apply equally to all places and times, and without which nothing good is possible. It's like America's version of Kim Il Sung, in a way. Removing its divine status, even though it were necessary to save America, is going to badly undermine a lot of people's belief system. Hopefully it won't come to that.
I tend to wonder too, now that I think about it, whether America's origins as a Protestant country make us more susceptible to that "sola scriptura" sort of mindset. There's a great similarity between the way the Constitution and the Bible are treated as being above the need for justification.
^1 If this were a drinking game, and I'd tossed back a shot for every one of my liberal friends and acquaintances who muttered darkly these past few days about America "forgetting history", I'd be at the hospital having my stomach pumped.
*****
Under certain conditions, dead bodies can form blue crystals.
*****
English Monarchs. Magnificent site about the Kings and Queens of England, together with related historical topics. I've spent the better part of the day poking around in here. I recommend it highly. I haven't even begun to poke at the subsite Scottish Monarchs.
I had no idea that George I was such a rotter!