Historians privately warn Biden that America’s democracy is teetering

[David Lockmiller]

President Biden paused last week, during one of the busiest stretches of his presidency, for a nearly two-hour private history lesson from a group of academics who raised alarms about the dire condition of democracy at home and abroad.

Comparisons were made to the years before the 1860 election when Abraham Lincoln warned that a “house divided against itself cannot stand” and the lead-up to the 1940 election, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt battled rising domestic sympathy for European fascism and resistance to the United States joining World War II.

(Washington Post - August 10, 2022)

[AussieMick]

The Chinese ambassador appeared at the National Press Club in Canberra this week . Apparently, Taiwan’s 23 million people face a campaign of re-education if the self-governed island is taken over by China, with China’s top diplomat to Australia saying Beijing was set to use “any means necessary” to achieve reunification.

In today's The Australian newspaper there is a short letter (not from me) :-

"After reading the reports of the Chinese ambassador’s speech, it is clear the Chinese leadership has never heard Abraham Lincoln’s saying that a teaspoon of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of gall."

(Paul Everingham, Hamilton, Qld)

[RJNorton]

Lincoln used the phrase in his 1842 Temperance Address given to the Springfield Washington Temperance Society. Here is the point in the address where he used it:

"When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a "drop of honey → catches more flies than a gallon of gall.'' So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of ← honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great high road to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause really be a just one. On the contrary, assume to dictate to his judgment, or to command his action, or to mark him as one to be shunned and despised, and he will retreat within himself, close all the avenues to his head and his heart; and tho' your cause be naked truth itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder than steel, and sharper than steel can be made, and tho' you throw it with more than Herculean force and precision, you shall no more be able to pierce him, than to penetrate the hard shell of a tortoise with a rye straw.

Such is man, and so must he be understood by those who would lead him, even to his own best interest."

[David Lockmiller]

(08-12-2022 07:48 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Lincoln used the phrase in his 1842 Temperance Address given to the Springfield Washington Temperance Society. Here is the point in the address where he used it:

"When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a "drop of honey → catches more flies than a gallon of gall.'' So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of ← honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great high road to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause . . . .

China has approved the removal of the two-term limit on the presidency, effectively allowing Xi Jinping to remain in power for life. The constitutional changes were passed by the annual sitting of parliament, the National People's Congress. . . . Two delegates voted against the change and three abstained, out of 2,964 votes.

China had imposed a two-term limit on its president since the 1990s.

Xi Jinping must be almost solid honey. Not even President Abraham Lincoln did that well in the 1864 presidential election.

[AussieMick]

David, it remains to be seen whether Jinping has convinced the 2,959 delegates that he really is their sincere friend. True, they voted for him to remain in power for life. But I think he is pushing his luck ... if he is still in power this time next year I'll be surprised. I'd be more convinced of his popularity if 90% had voted for him, not 99.8%

[David Lockmiller]

(08-13-2022 05:58 AM)AussieMick Wrote:  David, it remains to be seen whether Jinping has convinced the 2,959 delegates that he really is their sincere friend. True, they voted for him to remain in power for life. But I think he is pushing his luck ... if he is still in power this time next year I'll be surprised. I'd be more convinced of his popularity if 90% had voted for him, not 99.8%

You have seen how he addresses covid outbreaks. I don't believe he cares much about popularity contests. The three thousand delegate vote (in behalf of 1.402 billion people as of 2020), effectively allowing Xi Jinping to remain in power for life, was a mere formality.

[David Lockmiller]

(08-12-2022 07:48 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Lincoln's 1842 Temperance Address given to the Springfield Washington Temperance Society:

So with men [or women]. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of ← honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great high road to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause really be a just one.

On the contrary, assume to dictate to his judgment, or to command his action, or to mark him as one to be shunned and despised, and he will retreat within himself, close all the avenues to his head and his heart; and tho' your cause be naked truth itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder than steel, and sharper than steel can be made, and tho' you throw it with more than Herculean force and precision, you shall no more be able to pierce him, than to penetrate the hard shell of a tortoise with a rye straw.

Such is man [or woman], and so must he be understood by those who would lead him, even to his own best interest.

Why does not the truth matter any more in this democracy?

[Gene C]

(08-17-2022 09:44 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Why does not the truth matter any more in this democracy?

$$$

[mbgross]

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.". ― Mahatma Gandhi.

[LincolnMan]

Wise words from Gandhi.