I want to be like Thaddeus Stephens when I grow up . . .

I enjoyed Lincoln.  One of the things I enjoyed was Tommy Lee Jones' character, Thaddeus Stephens, a radical Republican congressman from Pennsylvania.  He ultimately publicly, though fraudulently, abandoned his radical purist ideological position that all men, including black men, were created equal by God, in order to assure the passage of the 13th amendment.  With great reluctance he pulled back from this radical ideology, and instead painfully recited the much more palatable line that he had been given for all the press to hear and print, "I believe that all men are equal before the law,"  much to the chagrin of his radical colleagues, who berated him in tears.  He was able to salvage the moment by observing that the very existence of his anti-abolition opponent across the room was evidence that all men were certainly not created equal.

By today's standards that doesn't seem like much of a concession, and I don't have time nor inclination to explain the situation here.  I would recommend you go see the movie. It is worth the price of admission and the Cobbster, which is quite a tidy sum.

The thirteen amendment passed.  Slavery was abolished. The war soon ended , to a great degree because the powerful Congressman Thaddeus Stephens of Pennsylvania sacrificed a sacred ideological belief to accomplish something real rather than perpetuating an unrealized high-minded ideal.

We are facing the same choice as old Thaddeus.  We cling to our high minded idealism in the face of opportunities to accomplish somethings real.

I am a fan of ideals.  In fact, I suppose I am an idealist.  I believe there is merit in recognizing the big idea. But a friend of mine used to remind me that I should avoid being so heavenly minded that I was no earthly good.

So, maybe we get it wrong.

We put the ideal first. Then we try to solve the problems. But it is the rare solution that could satisfy two warring ideals.

Perhaps first we should identify problems without ideals.  We have an economic problem.  We have a health care problem. We have a violence problem.  We have a poverty problem. We have an education problem. We have an environmental problem. We have an energy problem. We have an immigration problem. We have a big government problem. We have a small government problem.  We have a liberty problem. We have a security problem.

We have problems.  I am confident that we have the minds and hearts in this country to offer the best solutions.  But it won't work if we allow the ideal to continue to be enemy of the real.

 Maybe we should just try to do the best we can for people, not for ideals.

 Maybe that should be the ideal, at least for now.


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