We even survived William McKinley, who inaugurated this country's first adventure into telling foreigners how to behave when he decided to involve the U.S. in the affairs of the Philippines. He had helped them get rid of Spain. Now should we leave and leave them to their own devices, or stay and influence them? Isolationist feeling was strong. But so was the hunger for power akin to empire, to put the U.S. on the international map in a bold new way. McKinley described his enlightenment and decision this way:
I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way—I don’t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany—our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves—they were unfit for self-government—and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly
And so, dear friends, America became the salvation of the world, "our fellow-men for whom Christ also died," saving the world for democracy and Christianity, and Palin like Bush is just another player in this grand drama started by William McKinley. All this at the very end of the 19th century, 1899, and the beginning of the 20th. But now we are in the 21st century, and maybe we need a new theme. Maybe we need a new theme.
No comments:
Post a Comment