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PatrickG38 -> RE: we need more stories like this one (4/15/2012 5:10:37 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: dcnovice
FR
My dad used to say he wanted to publish a newspaper that only printed good news. I used to roll my eyes when he wasn't looking, but I now rather like the idea, So much energy goes into asking "What went wrong?" that we miss the equally important question of "What went right?"
Doing some Googling for the polarization thread, I refreshed my memory on the Era of Good Feelings,which followed the War of 1812. Even as a history major at a decent school, I learned almost nothing about this period. Yet it could have important lessons for our polarized nation. How, for example, did James Monroe (who, I'm starting to think, may have been underrated) so unify the nation that he was actually unopposed when he ran for reelection, in 1820? What skills might Monroe be able to teach us for today?
Sorry to be a bit digressive! Monroe just cam to mind as an example of a "What went right?" story we really need to tell.
The story related in the OP is wonderful, and I appreciate boi's sharing it.
It had little to do with James Monroe, a decent president to be sure, unifying the nation. The Federalist opposition to the War of 1812 caused that party to die out leaving only the Democratic-Republicans. The one part era was not long and the eventually the Whigs and Democrats formed the Second American Party System. The post-war era is a much better example of how two parties can be oppositional and rational. There were strongly contested elections, but almost all the political elites accepted the liberal consensus (and incidentally, American prosperity as at an all time high -- I do not claim that was all the result of the liberal consensus). After all, Republican Eisenhower would be called a socialist by many of today's Republicans.
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