The estimable Dr. Boli
on political discourse:
We always tend to believe that we live in an age of uniquely debased
political rhetoric: that we have descended from the high ideals of
previous generations. Of course, that is because previous generations
have passed down only the tiny fraction of their political rhetoric that
stood up to high ideals, and thrown the rest into the compost heap
where it belongs.
The whole thing is a hoot, although you may want to skip past the opening material extolling the writer
Hugh Henry Brackenridge.
Dr. Boli was too young to vote in the 1800 election, but he vividly
remembers the Adams camp circulating broadsides warning that Jefferson
would burn your house and rape your daughters if he won. The horrors of
the French Revolution would come to our shores, and the only way to
prevent them was to vote Federalist. These, you must remember, were our
sainted Founding Fathers. We have no right to say that our political
rhetoric is uniquely debased.
He concludes with a hopeful paean:
Do not our political arguments sound very much like this today? And is
it not comforting to know that, though we were no better two and a
quarter centuries ago, yet we have survived to the present day?
No comments:
Post a Comment