Revisionism

Is the greatest evil against truth, but moral relativism is not the tool to touch up past indignities.

Hey, Andrew Jackson, for good or for ill, was a giant in American history. FDR, Richard Nixon, Woodrow Wilson (when it comes to presidential turds, I love flushing THIS guy!) Herbert Hoover, Warren G. Harding, I can go on and on about personal and professional failings. Jimmy Carter, while no doubt a decent human being which no one, not even Ryan has attacked on the merits of his humanity, was irredeemable as an executive. The beauty of our government is the fact that we can look back and judge the merits and faults of our presidents against a growing line of successors. Should Andrew Jackson be tried for crimes against humanity? Yes. Would he stand a chance? No. FDR, for the internment of Japanese-Americans during WW2? Impeached. Lincoln, for suspending habius corpus and preventing the State Assembly of Maryland, (a lawfully elected body of the people)from voting on succession? Impeached and perhaps imprisoned.

It is not an indictment of the system, the society, or the country itself to point to Andrew Jackson and say, "There's no justification." Are we as Americans fundamentally evil because of slavery? ("I say, "God Damn America! God Damn America!"") No. As a government we corrected the problem and as a society it remains an issue as long as we ALLOW it to remain an issue.

I think the true test for the love of one's country is to look at it, with its flaws, warts, zits, bad hair days, pot belly, morning breath and all the other less than savory qualities, and embrace it because 1) It's OUR nation and 2) It's STILL infinitely superior to anything else out there. Accepting our flaws and mistakes may be the single greatest act of patriotism arm chair intellectuals can exercise.