Partisan feelings

My brother was in town last weekend, so we took a leaf-viewing drive up into the mountains, first walking the Boreal Life Trail at the Paul Smiths VIC, then meandering up above Lake Placid on John Brown's Road. The day was sunny and cool, and the views all one could hope for, up behind the ski jumps looking east toward the Cascade Pass. As I had never visited the John Brown Farm, I took the chance to stop in for a moment.

The bearded abolitionist of my high school civics book (in life-size bronze) greeted me by the entryway--one arm sheltering an African American child, and looking out over the many-colored hills. His eyes hold a terrible purpose; you can see in them the bloody partisan night raids of "Bleeding Kansas," the armed insurrectionist, captured and brought to trial for treason by then US Army Colonel Robert E. Lee at Harpers Ferry.

Brown inspires in me very mixed feelings. One must admire those who are willing to give their life in a cause. But the willingness to take life for a cause? That gives me pause. Particularly at a time when political temperatures are rising to a boil.

Brian Mann, in the In Box blog, has been tracking some of the hotter end of politics, noting a column this week by John L. Perry, suggesting that a military coup may be the only way to preserve the nation. And in reply to my Listening Post entry about the "American character," an old friend maintained that "As an issue, abortion is the slavery of the 21st century." Even shaving a few points off for hyperbole, when I look at the statue of John Brown, and remember the legacy of slaughter and ruin it took to resolve the issue of slavery, I have to hope my friend is wrong about that.