[Peace-discuss] July 4 parade

[C. G. Estabrook]

Of course, we shouldn't confuse a person's changing with a change in government 
policy.

Suppose G. W. Bush had undergone a(nother) conversion and leapt out of bed one 
morning, exclaiming, "My God!  I've been completely wrong!  I've become a 
blood-drenched murderer!  I'm going to go order all US forces out of the Middle 
East and close all foreign bases!  Then I'm going to socialize the means of 
production, distribution, and communication!  Seize the banks, the major 
industrial concerns, and turn the country into a free association of producers!"

Laura would probably have winged him before he got to the door.  (Nancy Reagan 
used to keep a gun by her bed, and I suppose Laura did, too.)  Later in the day, 
there would be a brief announcement, that, owing to the sudden onset of the 
President's mental disability, VP Cheney was assuming the duties of president 
under the 25th Amendment...

It would be the same with the current incumbent (except that Michelle would 
probably just punch him).  --CGE


Stuart Levy wrote:
> On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 04:56:39PM -0500, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>> Of course, as Thomas Aquinas points out, we read ancient philosophers not 
>> to find out what ancient philosophers thought but how the truth of things 
>> stands...
> 
> Remember a key question from the film, The Lives of Others
> (set in East Germany during the time of the Stasi):
> 
>     Can [a] man change?
> 
> The answer of the artist within the film, and the clear answer of the filmmaker, is
> 
>     Yes!
> 
> I think we should allow for politicians to change too.
> (And I don't share Plato's mistrust of subversive poets.)
> 
>> Morton K. Brussel wrote:
>>> I would suggest the evaluation of Lincoln given by Eric Foner (and others) 
>>> who note that one should realize that Lincoln changed during his course as 
>>> President. The quotation below is from 1858…  Better to refer to
>>> http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090126/foner
>>> --mkb
>>> On May 20, 2009, at 6:46 AM, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
>>>> Another Lincoln quote:
>>>>
>>>> /“I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of 
>>>> bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white 
>>>> and black races - that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making 
>>>> voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor 
>>>> to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that 
>>>> there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I 
>>>> believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of 
>>>> social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while 
>>>> they do remain together there must be the position of superior and 
>>>> inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the 
>>>> superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I 
>>>> do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior 
>>>> position the Negro should be denied everything."
>>>>
>>>> /-  Charleston IL September 18, 1858
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 5/19/2009 12:17 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>>>>> The problem is that he probably didn't say it...
>>>>>
>>>>> Karen Medina wrote:
>>>>>> "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the
>>>>>> people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of
>>>>>> the time."
>>>>>> Abraham Lincoln, (attributed)
>>>>>> _______________________________________________