Reading History, Plus Kamala’s Rough Start (posted 8/26/24)

I’m starting out this week in a contemplative mood, partly because of one of the two books I finished this weekend.  One is a thriller by Nick Petrie, The Price You Pay.  If you like Ben Coes and Lee Child novels, you’ll like Petrie’s.

The other one is a biography of Jefferson by Jon Meacham, called The Art of Power.  One of the great things about reading books about other historical periods is that when you’re boxed into your own, claustrophobic, immediate culture – which I am, and especially so during the final stretch of an election – they get you out of your own head, and give you some perspective.

The Jefferson book did that for me, and I thought I’d share a few thoughts about it, before I go right back to our own claustrophobic, immediate culture at the end of this column. 

I’ve read a lot about Jefferson and the Founders, but most of it was a while ago, and it’s disheartening to realize how much I’ve forgotten. The clearest facts that I remembered about him are his genius and his motor; he had such a wide range of interests, and seemed capable of excelling at anything he put his hand to.  He designed all kinds of implements and furniture, and his own grave marker, on which he listed his writing of a Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom and the Declaration of Independence, and his founding of the University of Virginia. 

He had me at “author of the Declaration of Independence.”  Quill drop.

If that wasn’t enough, after the British burned much of DC in the War of 1812, Jefferson’s personal library of over 6000 books formed the basis of the new Library of Congress. 

(By comparison, I’ve written 5 unpublished novels, a dissertation, 10 published short stories, and literally hundreds of running jokes about how Nancy Pelosi is a mummy, and Liz Warren is translucently white.  So I feel like Jefferson and I are kindred spirits, really.) 

And yet, he’s also a reminder of what a mixed bag we fallen humans are, even the greatest among us.  For such a wise man, he could be foolish with money, and at his death he owed between $1-2 million in 2012 dollars, forcing the posthumous sale of his beloved Monticello.  For such a morally high-minded man, as a young bachelor he also pursued and had an affair with one of his best friend’s wives, and as an adult he famously had sex and children with at least one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings.

Oh yeah: he owned slaves, and he didn’t free any of them during his lifetime.  At his death he freed the children he’d sired by Hemmings, but not the rest.

Those facts are incomprehensible to us now, and morally offensive.  And they should be.  But since they’ve been dwelled on exhaustively by too many America-hating educrats in recent decades, too many students can’t rightly see, judge or appreciate the greatness of the man (and the Founders, and our country).  Too many schools teach that what we shared with every great empire/nation in human history until the 1830s – slavery – was unique to (and uniquely terrible in) America, while denigrating or ignoring our uniquely great founding principles and positive impact on the world.

All generations suffer from what C. S. Lewis called “chronological snobbery,” a tendency to accept our current values and harshly judge those of earlier generations.  So while we pat ourselves on the back for acknowledging the evils of slavery or sexism, what do you think people a century or two from now will think when they look back on our current acceptance of transgender ideology and the child mutilation and harm that accompanies it, or socialism and its 100 million plus body count (so far), or violent terrorism when practiced by trendy minorities, or abortion up until the moment of birth?

(A good corrective to chronological snobbery comes from Tolstoy: “Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.”)

In a related vein, Jefferson’s world provides a useful reminder of how many political “crises” that loom so large in the moment will be utterly forgotten in a very short time.  I find it comforting to think that, God willing, no one will be able to remember Tampon Tim Walz in 8 years.  (Quick, who was Hillary’s running mate in 2016?  See what I mean?)

I found the chapters about Jefferson’s retirement to be the most poignant, perhaps because I’m at that stage of life myself.  He was relieved to be out of the sturm und drang of politics, and happily occupied himself with writing and working on various projects, and on my best days I feel that way too. 

After bitter political feuding with John Adams kept the second and third presidents estranged from each other for over a decade, it took only one fond letter from Adams for Jefferson to respond warmly and renew a friendship and correspondence that lasted until their deaths.

And in a coincidence of history, both men died on the same day.  On July 3^rd, 1826, Jefferson was in and out of consciousness, but wanted to survive to see the 50^th anniversary of the first Independence Day.  That night, he asked those around him several times whether it was the Fourth yet. 

He made it, dying at age 83, at Monticello on the Fourth of July.  John Adams, 90, died the same day in Quincy, Massachusetts.  His last words were, “Jefferson still survives,” even though Jefferson had passed five hours earlier.

Okay, that’s a lot of high-minded talk from a humble bonehead like myself.  So let me give you all the bends by thrusting you back into our current madness for the rest of this column.

It’s been a month since Que Mala has been a presidential candidate/nominee, and she still has not had a “big girl” press conference or taken a single legitimate question.  Of the five major policy decisions she’s made, four them have been disastrous – picking Tim Walz, promising price controls for groceries, proposing to tax unrealized capital gains, and offering $25K of taxpayer money to people who can’t afford a house – and the other one she shamelessly stole from Trump.

I don’t like the “no taxes on tips” idea, because I’m a conservative, and don’t like the government using double standards to pick winners and create losers.  But that is by far the least bad of Kamala’s first five moves, and she should still get lambasted for the blatant theft. 

We can’t let this cackling goon anywhere near the White House!

Speaking of which, I saw some speculation that when Imhotep Pelosi walked out for her speech at the DNC, some toilet paper fell out of her pants leg.  While this isn’t technically a fact check, I’m pretty sure we all know that that was some burial wrapping. 

#Pelosi-D,ValleyoftheKings

Finally, a violent jackass disrupted a “diversity festival” in Solingen, Germany on Saturday, stabbing over a dozen people and killing three. 

Pop Quiz:  Was the mass stabber screaming…

A. “Free Minds, Free Speech, Free Markets!”

B. “A Mighty Fortress is our God!”

C. “MAGA!” or

D. “Allahu Akbar!”

If you get this wrong, you must immediately turn in your Cautious Optimism membership card.

Also, the Germans seem pretty upset about Abdul al-Stabbington.  But they threw a diversity festival, and you can’t say Jihadi the Ripper didn’t bring diversity, can you?

As a nod to my German heritage on my mom’s side, I’d like to humbly suggest a new title for your next festival: “Deutschland Uber Diversity”

I predict fewer stabbings with that one.

Hamas delenda est!