Two Party Opera by Brian Carroll for December 28, 2018

Is this comic for Thomas Woodrow Wilson’s birthday (1856-1924)?

Then again, since things are different now, maybe it will work this time?

I agree with Woody in panel 2. He did say in 1909 that “We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class, of necessity, in every society, to forego the privileges of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks.” I’ve been diving into the work of Charles Eliot in the early 1900s, and as startling as Wilson’s quote is, it says more about the time than about Wilson.

Sadly, there ARE times in history that it WOULD be better to repeat, even though 2017-2018 was ABSOLUTELY NOT one of those. IF we could repeat a time in history, why can’t we repeat the time when the Republican party actually worked for and supported the working man, and NOT just the corporations and those with MONEY? They really DID support the common man at one time, hard as that is to believe nowadays!

From REPUBLICAN Senator Daniel J. Morrell of Pennsylvania: In his first speech in Congress Mr. Morrell uttered the following plea for labor: “The American workingman must live in a house, not a hut; he must wear decent clothes and eat wholesome and nourishing food. He is an integral part of the municipality, the State, and the Nation; subject to no fetters of class or caste; neither pauper, nor peasant, nor serf, but a free American citizen. He has the ballot, and if it were possible it would be dangerous to degrade him. The country stands pledged to give him education, political power, and a higher form of life than foreign nations accord their laborers, and he must be sustained by higher rates of wages than those of Europe. Our industries operated by American citizens must be freed from foreign interference and organized into a distinct American system, which will exact some temporary sacrifices but result in general prosperity and true national independence. In maintaining diversified industries we utilize every talent, provide a field for every capacity, and bind together the whole people in mutual dependence and support, assuring the strength and security of our Republic.”

Of course that WAS in 1866…

“I am not one of those who believe that a great army is the means of maintaining peace, because if you build up a great profession those who form parts of it want to exercise their profession.”

Many years ago I read Wilson’s biography of George Washington. I would say that as an historian, Wilson was a good president, and as a president, Wilson was a good historian.

I’m sure there are several things Professor Wilson would not want us to view through a modern lens— his enthusiasm for the Ku Klux Klan, for one.

Of course, Woodrow Wilson in particular has a lot he doesn’t want to have to have to learn about: getting suckered into World War I by the British, his open racism (re-segregating civil service jobs, supporting the KKK, etc.)…

Well, if the current president would look at how badly things went in the Middle East with ISIS when President Obama pulled out the troops, he would learn from that very recent history lesson.

Har!! “Just to be safe”!! (Didn’t see that coming.)

This comic is always refreshingly pertinent. Furthermore, the comment section shows a higher level of intellect, which probably keeps the trolls at bay. :-)

The first President to be the son of a slaveowner and the last President to be the son of a slaveowner.

The crime is not in viewing the past through the perspective of the present. The crime is failing to balance that analysis with an examination of the context of the times.