History

Abraham Lincoln had less than one year of formal schooling. But long before he became president, he read Homer, Euclid, and Plato, among many other timeless authors. Lincoln was extraordinary in so very many ways. But he was not extraordinary because he read the classics. In Lincoln’s time, no person considered himself educated unless he could speak fluently about Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

In contrast, much of today’s wisdom seems to come from coolie cups (”I like my chocolate like I like my men – rich”), bumper stickers (”I didn’t fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian”), and T-shirts (”Ham and Eggs: A day’s work for a chicken; a lifetime commitment for a pig”). If someone wants a more sophisticated brand of intellectualism, he can read the message boards outside churches (”Don’t wait for a hearse to take you to church”).

Alas. We should mourn the state of public discourse. The Observer suspects that few people who inhabit the state Capitol could identify the century in which Chaucer wrote, much less the point of the Monk’s Tale. Which holds great wisdom for politicians.

History, while not as neglected as literature, is still neglected. For example, few people know that socialism was the very first form of government tried in America. In the first couple of years after colonists arrived at Jamestown, all property was communal. All food was kept at a central storehouse for everyone to share. It was truly “Work according to your ability, take according to your need.”

But, because there was no reward for working harder, no one worked hard. The result was the Winter of Starving in 1609-10. Of the 500 colonists in Jamestown, 440 died. The survivors ate rats and dogs. One man killed a woman and ate her. He was later burned.

Socialism’s failure in Jamestown was not an anomaly to history. Collectivism has failed every time it’s been tried.

Yet we see our would-be political leaders climbing over each other to redistribute the wealth. To hand over society’s problems to government. To socialize medicine. To tax productive citizens.

It’s a pity that the people who seek the presidency do not, unlike Lincoln, understand the greater historical context in which they seek election. Instead, the candidates mire themselves in populist, though vacuous, themes.

As one bumper sticker says, “My child wants to be president. I told him to aim higher.”

The Settlement Observer is a resident of Farmington.