Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Friday, Oct. 10, 2008

Politicians must know of historical facts

In the recent vice-presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin repeated criticized Sen. Joe Biden for dwelling too much on the past. This is a curious criticism coming from a conservative, and one who at another point in the debate defended the "traditional" definition of marriage. Don't you have to know the past in order to make decisions based on tradition?

It is also disturbing for a more important reason. In "Upstream," his 2008 history of American conservative movement, Alfred Regnery emphasized that one of the major differences between conservatives and liberals is that conservatives know the importance of what has happened in the past, and so are able to build a more substantial future. Without that awareness of history, conservatism is less a valid political option and more an ideology.

Without a grounding in the past, Palin's conservatism becomes fruitless, rather like a bridge to nowhere.