We’re always told to remember the past, but I’ve come to believe it’s the wrong idea. Sometimes forgetting the past is a good thing.
Yesterday I got a forwarded email about previous Democratic presidents’ records on Social Security and other issues, although it says nothing about Obama. You can’t judge a current candidate by earlier presidents. Obama is not Johnson, Carter, or Clinton. There’s no reason to believe he’ll follow similar policies.
Similarly, Republicans like to bring up Lincoln to play up their commitment to civil rights. That’s completely wrong and irrelevant since today’s Republican party has nothing in common with Lincoln’s party, and today’s Republicans, including McCain, have actively opposed civil rights.
The only way we will have real peace is by forgetting the past and moving on. As long as people will keep dredging up something another group’s ancestors did to their ancestors a few hundred years ago, old grudges will never die and we’ll never be able to stop fighting.