1. Today is Lee-Jackson day. It reminds us that Virginia was forced into a war it didn’t want by events initiated by the states of the deep South and President Lincoln. Other states started the war by seceding in response to the agitation by hotheaded aristocrats (masters) without anywhere near sufficient justification. Virginian generals were stuck with making the best of it. They almost won it. The war, of course, was really lost in the West.
2. Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. His “direct action” was designed to wake up “white moderates” who preferred order to justice and so were indifferent to other men’s inability to be fully free. The result was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which effectually extended the color-blind spirit of the original Constitution to state law by finally enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment. MLK was a singularly courageous, eloquent, and mission-driven man.
3. Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of ROE v. WADE, a decision that continues to divide Americans. I will be speaking at a symposium on the 40th anniversary of ROE tomorrow at 530 at West Georgia University. Google the event or contact me if you want to come. I will opposed, I think, by two young(er) women.
4. If you can’t make it, an extended version of what I will say is available by clicking on the post below.
5. I almost forgot. Today is Inauguration Day too.
While I have you, can I ask you something? I’ll be quick.
Twenty-five thousand people subscribe to First Things. Why can’t that be fifty thousand? Three million people read First Things online like you are right now. Why can’t that be four million?
Let’s stop saying “can’t.” Because it can. And your year-end gift of just $50, $100, or even $250 or more will make it possible.
How much would you give to introduce just one new person to First Things? What about ten people, or even a hundred? That’s the power of your charitable support.
Make your year-end gift now using this secure link or the button below.
