I don't read Boars Head Tavern very much. I'll confess that up front.
But they have hit on a discussion of politics lately that has been of some interest to me, particularly sense at least one of the members, Bill Mackinnon, has registered strong disagreement with the decision to invade Iraq. Along the way, he made this claim:
I’ve been a Republican all my voting life and am certainly not a pacifist. I consider this administration to be the most power mad and corrupt in my memory.
That's the sort of claim that makes me think our political and cultural memory is dead. This past week I have been revisiting the Clinton era for work and have been reminded of the corruption that was rampant throughout their administration. There is good evidence to think that the Clinton's went to extraordinary lengths to cover Bill's "indiscretions." Even if the decision to invade Iraq was a bad one--and I am still unpersuaded that it was--the claim that this administration is the most corrupt in recent memory is tendentious at best and probably downright ludicrous.
Our political resolve is clearly weak, which is problematic enough, but our political memory is no better.
Matthew Lee Anderson
Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.
