NYTimes Charles Blow Opinion

[Rob Wick]

Quote:As I touched on before ... if I were a slave with a family and I knew that my 'master' was going to sell me (and me alone), then I'd grab the chance to go with the family to any other country.

Mike,

The only problem is that colonization would not have been an option while someone was still a slave. They would have had to be free before any plan could go into effect. So either the South would have had to agree to compensated emancipation (which they clearly rejected), or the war would have to end with the South's defeat, which is obviously what happened.

Quote:I suggest its important to balance practicalities with philosophies. The things that matter to real people arent necessarily equivalent to morality and ethics.

Then what is the point of continuing to claim that we are civilized? If you push morality and ethics aside for practical sensibilities, anything is fair game. But let's say for the sake of discussion that you're right. Doesn't the leader of our nation have a special implicit responsibility to try to make us better than our current selves? Isn't that part of what we look for when choosing our leaders (no matter how disappointed we may be)?

Best
Rob