The Partisan Divide on Issues

[Bob Butler 54]

I saw a cartoon recently.  In it a young kid asked her grandfather if he’d ever wanted to see the demonstrations of the 1960s, the Flu epidemic of 1917, the Civil War and the Great Depression, all at once?  The little guy in the corner said no.    It's amazing that such a little character could generate such large text.  From the grandfather’s expression, he agreed.

Nitpick.  Digging into the Gettysburg campaign, I ran into one story.  Stuart’s force was riding through the Union rear, and captured a northern deserter.  Or so they thought.  I mean, what else could he be, an able bodied man dressed in civilian clothes?  It took some convincing, but the locals finally convinced the southerners that the north had several ways that a rich family could avoid service.  This guy really was legit.

The southerners considered this for a few moments.  Finally, one spoke.  “This bodes ill for our cause.”

Anyway, nitpick, we have not mobilized to the degree we did during the Civil War.  Not even close.  The list might have better included the Civil Rights movement rather than the Civil War, but they had already invoked the 1960s.

But otherwise…