1. On Sunday, November 18, I drafted the following, intending to post it today (November 20):
“The current issue of The Sun has at least two pieces of wisdom for our nation:
“Sparrow writes (p. 18): ‘In American politics we no longer use the term “extremist,” but I would like to bring it back because I am one. I believe in the extremes of human hope, generosity, and intuition. I believe our whole nation needs a massage: one of those deep-tissue massages that are excruciatingly painful but that “release blockages.”’
“And Will Durant is quoted on page 45: “Continue to express your dissent and your needs, but remember to remain civilized, for you will sorely miss civilization if it is sacrificed in the turbulence of change.”
“Wisdom for our nation, for our world, for our neighborhoods, and for ourselves.”
2. Last night I saw Abraham Lincoln inhabit Daniel Day-Lewis in Steven Spielberg’s film. Go see it.
3. This morning I am thinking the above two quotes reflect fairly naive understandings of political process. I am quite sure that, had Lincoln given and received massages, the Union in the form we know it would not have survived, and slavery might have persisted for decades.
4. But he did demonstrate “the extremes of human hope, generosity, and intuition,” and he remained remarkably civilized (if not entirely legal) in the midst of incivility and chaos. At great cost, he prevailed.
5. I have a lot to learn about politics.
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