I used to live in Washington, DC. in the ‘70s. Lots going on then. We had Watergate. Vietnam. And ultimately, the Iran Hostage Crisis, which we’re still living with half a century later.
My wife at the time worked at the White House under both President Ford, and then President Carter. Washington was filled with intrigue and many historical events happening around me real-time… and I had a front-row seat.
That’s where I was inspired to pursue a career in broadcast journalism. And no, not from Woodward and Bernstein at the WaPo. I always felt they were more driven by typical journalistic activism and accolades, than by the pursuit of truth. Indeed, President Nixon was flawed, although I think history will eventually expose the real truth behind his fall.
We’ll see.
But among all the experiences I had living in our nation’s capital, the one that still haunts me to this day was a small exhibit in the Smithsonian History and Technology Museum, as it was called then.
It was a tree stump.
I spent lots of time visiting the various halls displaying our nation’s achievements. I watched the Air and Space Museum being built. And the I. M. Pei designed East Wing of the National Art Gallery (you know, the one with the sharp edge that people can’t help touching). And the Vietnam Wall, which was designed by another Asian American, Maya Lin. They held a contest for best design. Most were traditional above-ground monuments. She won, but it was very controversial at the time. I recall it was referred to then as “the gash of shame.” And now it’s one of the most popular memorials for visitors to D. C.
But back to the tree stump.
As I wound my way through the American Civil War section, I noted chairs and a table from the Appomattox surrender. President Lincoln’s famous top hat. And lots of uniforms and weapons and other artifacts of that grave collision of ideologies.
And then, around a corner in a small glass case, was a tree stump. It was about four feet tall. Perhaps a yard wide. And riddled with small chips and gashes throughout its severed top.
Chips made from lead mini balls, shot from rifles at close range. You can see some of the still imbedded lead slugs, collapsed and flattened.
The once living oak tree originally stood on the battlefield of Spotsylvania, Virginia. One of the bloodiest battles of the entire Civil War. And it was felled by small arms fire.
Hell fire.
Catastrophic.
Imagine being a soldier from the North, or the South, and experiencing a barrage of bullets so intense, that it cut down a tree at chest height. Your chest height.
As a West Pointer, my father would often talk about the Civil War. Both Grant and Lee were graduates of the Academy. And my father was clear to point out that the war wasn’t fought over just slavery… although that was an important component. Both generals were allegiant to their own states. Grant from Ohio. Lee from Virginia. One North. One South.
It was a war between the states.
And President Lincoln was tasked with the job of preserving the Union, and not allowing one group of states to secede from the whole. He paid for it with his life. Along with hundreds of thousands of an entire generation.
Indeed, we were divided by ideologies then.
And a nation divided, cannot survive.
But we did. Through much debate and pain and bloodshed.
And strong leadership.
Sound familiar?
I pray that we learn from our history. We can’t endure another civil war, even if bloodless.
And now the task is to vote… to prevent it. There are powerful forces that want to take that right from you… and everything else.
Learn from history.
Vote as if your life depended upon it.
And your family’s lives.
Because it does.
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Thank you for mentioning Richard Nixon. I am a big fan of the President, and believe he got a raw deal. History should consider “Tricky Dick “ as one of our greatest presidents. I was fortunate enough to have lived in Yorba Linda and visited his library and birthplace many times.
Nixon got it right many years earlier about the Deep State, Vietnam, overtures to China and Russia. Nixon knew all too well about the Deep State and unfortunately, was a victim of it.
What we see now in our political climate is something Nixon would have accurately predicted. The Deep State has morphed into a pinko, weirdo Democratic Party, overthrown by liberal elites and extreme activists. All while the press is in on it.
IMO, Nixon would be a huge Trump supporter, and especially how Trump has taken on the Deep State and the lunatics of the left. Stay tuned for Trump’s revealing later today, of the election fraud in Georgia.
Mr. Summer states "Learn from history. Vote as if your life depended upon it."
The ideology of division is the name of the game. Hey don't worry about it, we'll have community conferences and destruction of cities and neighborhoods will be explained and good for you.
We'll spend your tax money for failure because it is good for the environment.
Plant trees, forget the drought of the late 1990's in Santa Barbara that killed off most of the City of SB tree planting as a "Tree City." Does that make sense at a time when these same types are cementing over acres of land in the name of housing? You know housing to provide for a population, that for at least a decade has a reproduction rate of 1.5-1.6.
We need to have Vision Zero and interconnected bike and walking paths that have failed to attract people from autos..... In the process it has killed downtown Santa Barbara, but we know better crowd knows better. You know the same groups and people who beat the drum for "active transportation." Does it make sense? Think about the failures in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, and Goleta. Literally millions spent and where are they? (the alternative people?) Less than a mile of bike path in Carp. that cost millions when the alternative was in place a quarter of a mile away. The now trumpeted 100 miles of bike paths in Santa Barbara, and a company that has failed to get people to use their b-bikes with cars still on the streets. Project connect in Goleta that is costing tens of millions and has never had an comprehensive EIR.
And this is just the social justice attack, forget about physical attacks with open borders and drugs on society the Left has created in the past 20 years.... It is continuing, intentional, and a failure but sounds sooooo good how can you not destroy society to get what they want? Looking up it is time to go.... too long but you get my drift. So let's have another conference to paper over failure....
Learn from history. Vote as if your life depended upon it.